a change in evolution
by kingalex1234
Summary: after Alex and Aqua are ready to go home, they find out they first need to visit a new world...again. fortunately they have a guide, unfortunately they have unusual challenges that are hard to face...and a rival that will match them step by step.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Prologue

I tumbled onto the wooden floor of the mansion. Was it a mistake? Had I misjudged where I was aiming?

"Wow, I didn't know you were allowed to fight like that" the Pokémon trainer said, coming up to me

"I don't think we are" I said

"Wait, you broke the rules?" Lucario said. I nodded "well, no way you'll fight again"

Before I could respond, I noticed I was holding a box "oh yea, that appeared in your hand as you fell" Aqua said, getting up.

I got up and opened the box "my machine!" I cried in joy

"You won't be able to return home yet" Lucario said

"Why not?" I asked. Then I noticed no one else was around "where's everyone else?"

"Pikachu has been told to go back to his world and be your partner" Lucario said

"Wait, Aqua's my partner though" I said. Lucario looked at me "wait, I'm going to the Pokémon world?"

"You were sent here for a reason, and that reason has been reviled. There's something in the Pokémon world you need to return home, and Pikachu has been told to help you." Lucario said

"So, we can't go back yet?" Aqua asked

"Pikachu can get it to the point you'll need it. Good luck" the Pokémon trainer said.

Before I could say anything else, Pikachu jolted the machine, causing it to activate. We disappeared in a flash of light…and it was black.

**And the next story is started! This will be a series that follows the games, just like I did with pikmin. I've decided to do Pokémon because I'd have to research any other game, and I don't really have time for that right now, and I've played every Pokémon game from ruby and sapphire. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. bye for now!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 1: Aqua and Pokémon

Foggy head again…let's see…my name is Alex…I'm…10? 15?

My thoughts were cut off by a cry for help

"GET THIS THING AWAY FROM ME!" I heard a girl yell.

I opened my eyes to see two figures. One was a girl about 10 years old in a blue dress and hat, the other was some green plant creature with a bulb on its back.

"SOMEONE HELP!" the girl cried, even though the creature didn't seem to be hurting her.

"Stop it Bulbasour!" an older man in a lab coat said, walking up to the creature. It looked at him and stepped away from the girl "I'm sorry, he's not usually like this" the man said.

"Th-thank you" the girl said, getting up. I was about to do the same, when I realized the creature wasn't next to the man.

"Bulbasour!" I heard behind me. I jumped back with a surprised yelp as I realized the creature had gone behind me when I wasn't paying attention.

"Bulbasour! Leave him alone!" the man said.

"It's fine, he just startled me" I said, getting up.

"I'm really sorry about him, he's usually much calmer. I wonder why he's so interested in you" the man said "oh, I haven't introduced myself, I'm professor Oak"

"I'm Aqua and this is Alex" Aqua said. I would have said it, but I had remembered Professor Oak from Pokémon…which meant that's where I was!

"Hmm…how would you two like to have a Pokémon?" the professor said

"Really? You'd let us have one?" I asked

"Of course, come with me to my lab, my grandson should be there shortly" he said

"Ok!" me and Aqua said together as we followed him.

The lab was small, but I was sure there were secret rooms I couldn't see. On a table in front of us, there were three poke balls. Suddenly, a boy with spikey brown hair ran through the door "sorry I'm late grams!" he said

"It's fine grey, you haven't missed anything" the professor said

"And you are..?" he asked, looking at me and Aqua

"I'm Alex, and this is Aqua" I said, introducing us

The boy nodded and turned back to the professor "so we each get a Pokémon, right?" he asked

"I suppose so, there was a different boy I was expecting but his mom told me he couldn't make it, so each of you can choose" the professor said

"You can choose first" the boy said to me. Even though I knew why, I still went first. I figured it would be better anyways because I could choose my own Pokémon.

The professor let out each of the Pokémon. The Charmander seemed eager to be picked, but I felt like it wouldn't get along well with me. The Bulbasour was looking at me, but I wasn't too sure I wanted it. Then I looked at the Squirtle. It looked back at me, but it wasn't as eager, in fact, it was really calm. It was as if it had already decided it wanted to be with me…and it knew I wanted to choose it.

"I'll take that one" I said, pointing at the Squirtle

"Well then I'll choose this one" Grey said, pointing to the Bulbasour

"Guess I've got you then" Aqua said, picking up the Charmander. I hadn't really thought through how Aqua would react to Charmander, though being how she wasn't afraid of fire, I was sure it was ok.

The professor returned the Pokémon and gave us the poke balls. "Also, I have a favor to ask all of you." He said "I would like to do more research on Pokémon, but I'm a bit too old for travel. Would you three mind taking a pokedex with you?" he asked

"Sure" I said, taking the pokedex. He gave one to Grey and Aqua as well. I turned to leave, but I didn't get more than 5 steps before Grey stopped me.

"Hey, Alex" he said as he ran up to me. "Since we both have Pokémon, how about a battle? That's what trainers do, right?"

Before I had time to say no, he brought out the Bulbasour

"Bulbasour!"

I hesitated, not quite sure I wanted to have a Pokémon battle "you could choose to run, but you won't get far that way"

There's the attitude I remembered. I threw my poke ball, letting out my Squirtle

"Squirtle!"

"Bulbasour, use tackle!" Grey yelled. The Bulbasour hit my Squirtle hard

"Squirtle…" shoot, what were its moves? "Use tackle" the Squirtle hit the Bulbasour just as hard.

"Bulbasour, use Leer" Grey said. There's no real way to describe how a Pokémon leers

"Squirtle, Tackle again!" I said, knowing I could get him in the next move. Squirtle tackled the Bulbasour, and the opponent was defeated.

"Yay, Alex!" Aqua cheered.

"Tch, that was a fluke" Grey said with his usual prided attitude.

"I think both Pokémon did wonderfully" Professor Oak said

"Whatever, later gramps" Grey said, returning his Pokémon and heading out

"Don't mind him, he's always so full of himself" the professor said to me. "You'll do great Alex, I'm sure of it, and you too Aqua"

"Thanks" we said in unison, then we headed out.

We were about to go into the grass when I heard a rustling close by. I didn't have any poke balls with me, so I didn't really want to battle any Pokémon yet. Without warning, a Pikachu leapt out and tackled me. I was about to throw the poke ball with Squirtle in it, then I realized the odd coloration.

"Pika!" she said

"Pikachu!" I said with excitement. She had something in her mouth, which she dropped in my lap. It was my earring! "Thanks Pikachu!" I put it on.

"You're welcome!" she said happily.

Unfortunately, now it was getting dark, so we got a tent (don't ask from where), and we set it up just outside the town. All three of us fell asleep quickly.

**First chapter done! YAY! Each city will be its own chapter, as will each forest, cave, or special building. I will probably make a few Rout chapters as well (I.E. if I was going to catch a Pokémon). It would take forever to go through the capture of each Pokémon, so if you want me to have a certain Pokémon, tell me and I'll most likely figure out some way for Alex (or Aqua) to catch it. You can also specify which character catches the Pokémon if you want to. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2: poke balls and maps

Pikachu woke us up in the morning, and after breakfast, we packed up and started along the path. Surprisingly, no Pokémon attacked us, and we got to Viridian city before noon. We went to the Pokémon center right away.

"Welcome to the Pokémon center" Nurse Joy said "how may I help you?"

"Do you have a place we could spend the night?" I asked, knowing it would take a while to find a map.

"Sure, but you should look at the shop first, you might find something you like" she said

"Thanks" I said, leaving with Aqua and Pikachu

We went to the Pokemart, and went up to the cashier "hello, would you like to buy or sell something?" he asked, then he saw the pokedex "wait, do you know professor Oak?"

I nodded "yea, he gave us our first Pokémon" I said

"Great! Could you deliver this package to him?" he asked

"Sure" I said, taking a package he handed to me

"Thanks" he said as we turned to leave.

We got back to Pallet town by mid-afternoon, and went to the laboratory. "We have a package for you professor!" Aqua said as we came in

I gave him the package and he opened it "oh, It's the poke balls I ordered" he said. "You guys can have some" he then gave each of us six

"Thanks!" we said in unison

"No problem, I think Grey's sister has something for you, you should stop by their house" he said

We took his advice and went over to the house. A small girl came to the door "oh, you two are Grey's friends, right?" she asked "here, this was delivered to our house on accident" she gave each of us a map. "Bye!" she closed the door without another word.

We headed back, but we weren't as lucky this time. A Pidgey flew down and tackled Aqua. "Pidgey!" it cried

"GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!" Aqua cried as the Pidgey pinned her down

"Go, Squirtle!" I yelled, throwing its poke ball

"Squirtle!"

The Pidgey looked at the Squirtle, then went to scratch it. Squirtle rolled out of the way quickly. "Use Tackle!" I called, and Squirtle hit the Pidgey.

I wanted a second Pokémon, and I knew Pidgey could use the move fly, so I threw a poke ball at it. The poke ball started shaking, and I hoped it would stick. Suddenly it stopped shaking and clicked.

"Did you catch it?" Aqua asked

"I think so" I said, picking up the poke ball. I tossed it in the Air and the Pidgey came out

"Pidgey!"

"Yep, it's caught" I said, returning both Pidgey and Squirtle.

Pikachu looked at me "we should head towards the forest now, don't you think?" she asked me. I could understand her because of the earring, which is a translator, but I couldn't understand the other Pokémon for some reason.

I looked at the sky, which wasn't dark quite yet surprisingly. "Yea, I'm just going to stop by the Pokémon center first" I said as we headed back to town.

After clearing the arrangements with Nurse Joy, and healing our Pokémon, we headed towards the forest. We didn't get far before Aqua saw something.

"Look at that one!" she cried, pointing to a Caterpie on a tree "it's so cute!"

"Well, you could try to catch it" I suggested to her

"Oh yea!" she said taking out a poke ball "go, Charmander!" she threw it

"Charmander!"

The Caterpie jumped down and crawled over to face the Charmander "Oh my gosh it's adorable!" she cried.

"You still have to weaken it" I said

"Oh yea" she said "umm…" uh oh, she didn't know his moves

"Growl and scratch are what it knows" I said

"Charmander use scratch!" she said, and the Charmander obeyed, knocking the Caterpie back. The Caterpie then used string shot, and the Charmander started going slower.

"Throw a poke ball now" I said, knowing she would knock it out if she wasn't careful.

"Ok!" she said, throwing a poke ball. Despite the Caterpie being weak, it knocked the poke ball back, and it hit Aqua "Ow!" she said.

By the time we looked back, the Caterpie was gone "aww, I wanted to catch it!" Aqua said, disappointed.

"Maybe you'll get the next one" I said.

We were close to the forest now, so I decided to set the tent up. Pikachu and Pidgey collected Firewood, Squirtle went to get fresh water (I felt bad using it for my needs), and once the wood was ready, Charmander lit the fire. I was reluctant to use him like that, but I he did it on his own, so I let it be.

Later, the Caterpie came back. "Look Alex! It came back!" Aqua cried

"Maybe it wants you to catch it now" I suggested.

"Ok!" she said, throwing a poke ball at it. The poke ball barely shook once before it clicked. "YAY!" she cried, immediately letting Caterpie out.

Suddenly, a group of Butterfree flew by. Their wings glittered in the moon light, making them a wonderful sight "wow, their beautiful" Aqua said

"They sure are" I replied

"I'd love to have one!" she said

"I'll make sure you get your wish Aqua" I said, glancing at the Caterpie

"Thank you!" she cried, hugging me. It was a promise I could defiantly keep, especially since she had its basic evolution form. The Caterpie crawled up to me

"Caterpie!" it said

I smiled and rubbed its head gently. I hated bugs, and petting a caterpillar was NOT on the list of things I looked forward to, but Pokémon were something else, and I had to admit, this little guy was pretty cute. So was the Pidgey, not to mention our starters.

"Unless you want to sleep with them, you should return your Pokémon to their poke balls" I said, returning my Pokémon.

"Ok!" Aqua said, returning hers "good night"

"Night" I said as I fell asleep.

**Second chapter done! Yay! Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. also remember that if you want either of my characters to catch a certain Pokémon, name the Pokémon and the character and I'll probably put it in. bye for now!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 3: toxic forest

Pikachu already had a fire going with the other Pokémon's help by the time we got up. After breakfast, we packed up and headed into the forest. We didn't get very far before we heard a voice behind us.

"Hey Alex!" I heard Grey call from behind. I turned around and saw him run up to us "I think it's time for another battle, don't you?"

"Uh, I don't-" I was cut off

"You don't actually think you have a choice, do you?" he said with a smirk. I had no time to react as he threw a poke ball "go Pidgey!"

"Pidgey!"

Oh well "go Squirtle!" I said, throwing a poke ball of my own

"Squirtle!"

The Pokémon stood still, each watching the others just like me and Grey were watching each other.

"Pidgey use peck!" he cried. I hadn't remembered Pidgey knew peck.

Squirtle quickly moved out of the way "Squirtle, use Tackle!" I called, and Squirtle happily obliged, knocking Pidgey out in one shot. It was certainly impressive to say the least

"You want to play hard, you'll go down hard" Grey said. He threw a poke ball "go, Bulbasour!"

"Bulbasour!"

"Squirtle, use tackle!" I said. It WAS the only move it knew besides leer (I had tried other moves but nothing happened). Squirtle happily obliged, knocking Bulbasour back

"Bulbasour, use vine whip!" Grey said. Bulbasour looked at him confused, giving Squirtle enough time to tackle it again, knocking it out. He returned the Pokémon "man, how are you so good?"

"Practice" I said, surprised he seemed to have complemented me.

"Whatever, good luck with the poison" he said before taking off

"Poison?" Aqua asked

"Relax, you don't have to worry about it" I said, returning Squirtle

"Coming through!"

We both heard the voice, and turned to see a boy run into Aqua, making them both fall. A second later, a girl did the same to me "sorry!" they said in unison, helping us up.

"It's fine" I said, brushing thee dust off of me.

"I'm Leaf, this is red" the girl said

"I'm Alex and this is Aqua" I replied, still a bit dazed

"Hey! I have an idea. Why don't we have a tag battle?" red suggested

"I'm not too sure…" I said

"Come on! It'll be fun!" Leaf said

"What's a tag battle?" Aqua asked

"A tag battle is where two trainers pair up to fight two other trainers, each using their own Pokémon" red said

"I'm in!" Aqua said.

I sighed "ok, tag battle it is"

"Yay!" both girls said

"Go Squirtle" red said, throwing a poke ball

"Go Charmander!" Leaf said right after, throwing another

"Squirtle!" "Charmander!"

I was surprised, but I couldn't hesitate "go Squirtle!" I said, throwing a poke ball

"Go Charmander!" Aqua said, throwing one of her own.

"Squirtle!" "Charmander!"

"Wait a second, we have the same Pokémon?" red asked, confused

"That means we're evenly matched!" Leaf said enthusiastically "use ember on Charmander!"

"Counter with scratch!" Aqua called. Both looked around, obviously confused

"Uh…attack Charmander with tackle" I called. Squirtle tried to tackle Aqua's Charmander, which caused it to try to counter by scratching. The two started fighting.

"Still think this was a good idea?" I asked Aqua

"Maybe not" she replied. I could see the amusement on Leaf and red's face as the two partners fought

"How about we get different Pokémon, then battle again?" Leaf suggested

We returned our Pokémon "I have a better idea" Aqua said "why don't we journey together?"

"I'm not too sure, pairing with Leaf was bad enough" Red said, which earned him a jab from leaf

"Yea and how do we know our Pokémon won't get confused again?" I said

"Well, if we don't battle like that again, it shouldn't be a problem" Leaf said

"Besides, I'm sure we'll be safer this way instead of in pairs" Aqua said

"I don't think so, not quite yet" red said

"I agree, we need more Pokémon first" I said

"Oh fine" the girls said in unison.

Red tipped his cap "see you later"

"Bye!" leaf said, then they started running off before we could say anything else.

We headed off shortly, though at a much slower pace.

When we got to Pewter city, we immediately checked for room in the Pokémon center, there was NO way I wanted to sleep in a tent again.

"Are you here to challenge the gym?" Nurse Joy asked us

"The gym?" Aqua asked

"It's where trainers go to earn badges, you need all 8 before you can challenge the Elite four" she replied

"Elite four?" Aqua asked, still confused

"They're a set of four of the toughest trainers in the region, after fighting them one by one, you have to fight the champion. Then you can be put in the Hall of fame!" she said "of course, there's no healing in between"

"I kind of just want to catch some of these adorable Pokémon" Aqua said, looking t Pikachu.

"Well, I've heard there's some adorable, and powerful, Pokémon on the Sevii Islands"

"Sevii islands?" I asked, interested

"You can only get the pass to them by beating the Elite four, they hold many Pokémon you can't find anywhere else, including the Unowns"

"You mean there's a Pokémon no one knows about?" Aqua asked

"Well, there are probably hundreds no one knows about, but the Pokémon's name is Unown" Nurse Joy replied

"Oh" she said "well, I'm defiantly trying the Gym in the morning" she said

"Me too, I've heard there's a legendary on the first island" I said

"There is, actually, its named Multres. Many people speculate that it can get the attention of the legendary dog Pokémon" Joy said

That really caught my attention "really?" I asked

She nodded "it's only myth, and a really vague one, but they say the trainer who catches Multres could find a legendary dog Pokémon soon."

"Wow" I said

After dinner, and a bit more talking, we went to bed. I fell asleep with little thought.

**Yay! Another chapter! I put in several twists to make this story different from the game, I hope you like them! Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Also remember that once again, if you want a character to catch a Pokémon, tell me which Pokémon and which character and I'll do it. Bye for now!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 4: rocks everywhere

Aqua woke me up that morning

"Good morning Alex!" she said cheerfully, it was obvious she was excited

"Morning Aqua" I said sleepily.

After changing and eating breakfast, I went to tell Nurse Joy we were leaving

"Do you know how to get to the gym?" she asked

"No" Aqua said

"Go past the museum and the path will take you there" the nurse said

"Thanks" we said in unison as we headed out.

It wasn't long before we got to the Gym, and it was amazing. The Gym had a main path, with some side paths that wound around, and a battle field at the end. There were places I knew trainers should be, but there weren't any, just one at the end.

We walked up to the end, and were met by a man "you must be the people I heard about" the leader said

"You heard of us?" I asked, surprised

"A boy named red was with a girl named Leaf, they told me two trainers were probably going to challenge me today" he said

"Oh…well, here we are" I said awkwardly.

"I'm Brock" he said

"I'm Alex and this is Aqua" I replied, introducing ourselves

"You know only one of you can challenge me right now, correct?" Brock asked

"We know, we expected more people" I replied.

He nodded "you caught us at a bad time, but I'll still battle you if you would like." He said

"I'll battle you first, then we'll wait until you're ready to battle again" I said

"Ok" he said, and then he threw a poke ball "go Geodude"

"Geodude!"

"Go Squirtle!" I said, throwing my own poke ball

"Squirtle!"

"Squirtle, use tackle!" I called, and Squirtle obliged, but missed

"Geodude, Rollout" Brock said. Squirtle didn't get out of the way fast enough, and he was knocked back.

"Squirtle, Tackle again!" I called. I expected him to tackle, but he didn't listen. I don't mean that in the fact that he ignored me, I mean that in the fact that instead of Tackling, he used another move: Bubbles.

Don't ask me how it worked, but it did, and Geodude was knocked out. "Whoa" I said, surprised

"New move?" Brock asked, I nodded "good, he's learning. Go Onix!" he threw a poke ball

"Onix!"

"Squirtle, use Bubbles!" I called, and Squirtle obliged, but it missed

"Onix, Rock Tomb" Brock said. Squirtle barely got out of the way

"Bubbles again Squirtle!" I called. This time it hit, and Onix was knocked out.

I returned Squirtle as Brock returned Onix "good job Alex, you're a natural" he said

"Thanks, I guess" I said

He reached into his pocket and pulled out two things "this is the Boulder badge, it allows you to use Flash outside of battle" Brock said, handing me a badge.

"Thanks!" I said

"I'm not done" he said "this is a gift, for showing me that theirs a trainer with good potential" he said, handing me a disk. "It contains Rock Tomb, one of my favorite moves"

"Thank you Brock!" I cried

"I'll battle you as soon as I get my Pokémon healed, ok Aqua?" he said

"We'll wait" she said as Brock walked off "I think don't think he has another to give me"

"It's fine, we'll share it, I'm sure Leaf and Red are doing the same" I said, putting the disk in my bag

"Thanks, you're the best" Aqua said, hugging me. Brock came back shortly after

"Ok, are you ready Aqua?" he asked her

"As ready as possible" she said

"Go Geodude" he said, throwing the poke ball

"Geodude!"

"Go Caterpie" she said

"Caterpie!"

"Are you sure about that?" Brock asked

"Well, I don't have many others" she said

"Your call" he said "use rollout!" Geodude obliged

"Slow it down with string shot!" she called. Caterpie was able to stop it very quickly. "Tackle now!" Caterpie obliged, and after a few Tackles, the Geodude surprisingly was knocked out.

"Wow, your impressive" Brock said

"Thanks" Aqua replied

"Go Onix!" Brock said, throwing a second poke ball

"Onix!"

"Caterpie, Tackle!" Aqua called, Caterpie obliged again

"Onix, Rock tomb" Brock said. Somehow the Caterpie dodged

"Tackle again!" Aqua said. Caterpie obliged, and the Onix was knocked out

"Yay!" Aqua cried in excitement as Brock returned his Pokémon, but the Caterpie wasn't done yet, and it started glowing. "h-huh?" Aqua asked, confused.

The Caterpie glowed brighter, and the light visibly shifted. After a few minutes, the light faded, revealing a Metapod

"Metapod!"

"w-what happened to Caterpie?" Aqua asked

"It evolved, it's a Metapod now" Brock said

"I-is that good?" Aqua asked

"Yes, Metapod will keep Tackle and String shot, so you should be able to get it to evolve again." I said

"You mean it's not done?" Aqua asked

"Pokémon are complicated Aqua" Brock said "but you're on your way to learning"

"Thanks, I guess" she said, returning her new Metapod

"Here, you more than earned this" Brock said, handing Aqua a badge "you don't need an explanation, do you?"

"I don't, thanks" Aqua said

"Don't be upset about Caterpie" Brock said

"It's just…I caught it because of how cute it was, but Metapod isn't that cute…" Aqua said

"You're focused more on appearance than strength, aren't you?" Brock asked

"Yea, kind of" Aqua replied

"well, train that Metapod, and I'm sure you'll be happy it evolved" Brock said "now, I don't have another Rock Tomb to give you, but I'm sure you guys won't mind sharing that one, will you?" he asked

"We'll share" we said in unison

"Good, I have a feeling you two will be great trainers" he said "good luck!

We walked out and started towards through the route. It wasn't long before we reached a cave, and the sun was starting to set. We found a Pokémon center, and Nurse Joy let us stay for the night. I decided to keep my Pokémon out so that they weren't kept in their poke ball all the time. I soon fell asleep.

**Another chapter done! I don't really have anything to say here… remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Also remember to name any Pokémon you want my characters to catch, as well as the character who will catch it. Bye for now!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 5: fossils and thieves

There was a loud cry that woke me up. My first thought was that it was coming from Pidgey, but she was just waking up as well. Then it came again. I couldn't quite tell what it was, but it was loud. Me and the Pokémon quickly ran outside to find Aqua facing a large bird Pokémon. The Pokémon was unlike anything I had ever seen, and Aqua was obviously scared by it.

"Alex…" she said, the barely restrained fear obvious in her voice "what's that?"

"I…don't know" I said. I wasn't exactly scared, I was amazed. The bird was almost like Articuno, except it was silver instead of light blue, and it had a slicker look to it.

It let out a loud cry, there's no real way to describe it besides a mix between a chirp and a roar, then it looked at me. I had no idea what it wanted…until it looked at Pikachu. It wanted to battle…but there was no way I could take it on. It must have realized I wasn't ready, because it gave another loud cry, and took off.

We headed back inside to find a sleepy Nurse Joy at the desk. "Sleep well?" she asked

"Did the bird Pokémon wake you up too?" Aqua asked

Joy nodded "did you figure out what it was?" she asked

"Nope" Aqua replied "I tried scanning it with my pokedex, but it wouldn't work" she must have done that when I wasn't paying attention

"Oh well, maybe you'll find out more about it later" she said "good luck in Mount moon"

We headed out after returning the Pokémon, and we went into the cave. It took a bit, but we finally found a ladder, and went up. What awaited us was quite a surprise.

"Hey! You kids shouldn't be here!" a guy in all black said, stopping us "now scram or face the consequences!"

"Well, that's not very nice" Aqua muttered

"We don't have to be nice to little punks like you" the man said

"Whose 'we'?" I asked

"Team rocket, of course" the man replied

"Team rocket?" Aqua asked

"Enough talking. Are you going to get out, or do I have to make you?" he asked

Neither of us had a chance to reply before Red and Leaf came running up "another one of you?" red asked

"Don't worry red, I've got this one, you take Aqua and Alex ahead" Leaf said, getting a poke ball ready. Red dragged us away before either side threw a poke ball.

"What was that about?" I asked

"Their trying to steal some fossils from someone. Let's go before they get away with it" red said, taking us deeper into the cave.

It took a bit, but we came to another one "hey! You shouldn't be here!" a team rocket member said

"Alex, Aqua, you two go ahead, we'll catch up" red said

It didn't take long before we saw someone with five fossils next to him.

"Don't even think about taking any of these, their mine!" the guy said. He seemed like a scientist, and I was ready to let him have them, but red and leaf had caught up by then.

"Seriously? You have five of them! You couldn't share them?" Leaf asked

"Their mine! I won't let you take them!" he shouted

"That sounds like a challenge" red said, reaching for a poke ball

"Wait!" I said, grabbing his arm "I'll handle him, you got the team rocket guys"

"No, really, I can take him" Red insisted

"Red, let others share SOME of the glory" Leaf said

"Your right, take your best shot" red said

I nodded, and stepped up, but Aqua stopped me "can I try? Pleeeeeaase?" she asked

"Ok" I said, letting her take my place.

She stepped up to the scientist "look, we don't want ALL of the fossils" she said to the scientist

"You're not getting ANY of them!" he retorted "go Grimer!" he threw a poke ball

"Grimer!"

"You asked for it" she said. I threw a poke ball "go Metapod!"

"Charmander!"

She switched them! I barely contained my laughter, and I could see the amusement on Leaf and Reds face as well.

"Oh well, it works" she said "use ember!"

Instead of listening, the Charmander went after a fossil "Charmander! Stop it!" she cried.

Even the scientist was laughing now, as she chased after her disobedient Charmander. It took a while for her to finally catch him, but she did, and Charmander went back into his poke ball.

"Sorry about that" she said

"I'll try now" I said, taking out a poke ball "go Squirtle!"

"Squirtle"

"Now that's more like it" the scientist said "use sludge bomb!"

The Grimer obliged, but Squirtle dodged. "Use bubbles!" I called, and Squirtle obliged, knocking Grimmer out.

"Go Voltorb!" the Scientist called, throwing a poke ball

"Voltorb!"

"Use Explosion!" he said

Uh oh. The Voltorb exploded, knocking everything back. The Scientist returned the knocked out Voltorb, but Squirtle was still standing "probably not my best idea…" he said "how about you guys just take a fossil each?"

I shrugged and each of us got a fossil, leaving one for the scientist. Red and Aqua got a Dome fossil, and me and Leaf took a Helix fossil "thanks!" I said as we headed off.

We left the cave, and Red and Leaf looked at us "wed challenge you to a battle again, but I think Aqua has enough problems" Red said.

Leaf elbowed him "what he meant to say was we think it will be better if we wait some more to battle again. See you around?" she said

"See you guys!" Aqua said as the two ran off

"Did you figure out what was up with Charmander?" I asked her

"No…I think I'm just not a good enough trainer" she said sadly

"You're a fine trainer, you just need practice" I said. We went over to the Pokémon center and Nurse Joy showed us a room. I fell asleep with the Pokémon out again.

**YAY! Another chapter done! Again, not much to say…so yea. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Also remember that you can choose a Pokémon for my characters to catch, just remember to name the character. Bye for now!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 6: Playing with Water

I woke up pretty early, and I got dressed quickly. After breakfast, we talked to Nurse Joy.

"Are you guys going to challenge the gym?" she asked

"We certainly are" I said. Aqua stayed quiet, probably still doubting herself.

"You might want to train a bit first, the leader can be tough sometimes" Joy said

"Thanks for the tip" I said, heading out with Aqua.

"It won't make a difference" she said "if my Pokémon won't listen to me then I'm obviously not ready"

"Maybe you just have to bond with them" I suggested. I saw a bicycle shop "ever ride a bike?"

"Well, enough to learn how. Why?" she replied, her gloominess turning to curiosity

"I think we should get a pair, don't you?" I said. She nodded and we went into the shop.

"Welcome to the bike shop" the shop keeper said "it will be 1 million pokes"

"1 million?" I asked in shock "you can't be serious!"

"1 million or nothing" he said

"Alex, let's just go. We don't need bikes" Aqua said. I was reluctant, but I left with her "we've gotten by so far without them, we can keep going"

"Your right, let out your Charmander so that it might start listening" I said. She obliged, and my Squirtle kept it from running off again.

We went towards the bridge, but as soon as we stepped onto it, we heard a familiar voice behind us "hey Alex!" Grey said, running up "ready for another battle?"

"Now's not really a good time grey" I said

"Still think you have a choice, huh?" he asked "go pidgeotto!" he said, throwing a poke ball.

"Pidgeotto!"

"Go Squirtle!" I said. Squirtle was already out, so he ran up

"Squirtle!"

"Pidgeotto, drill peck!" Grey said

"Counter with bubble!" I called

The pidgeotto was knocked back as Squirtle released a beam of bubbles, and the Pokémon was knocked out.

Grey went for another Poke ball "go Bulbasour!"

"Bulbasour!"

"Come back Squirtle!" I said, returning Squirtle "go, Zubat!" I said. Now would be a good time to mention something I had forgot to say. While in the cave, I had caught a Paras and a Zubat, while Aqua had caught a Clefairy. I threw the poke ball

"Zubat!"

In all honesty, I have NO idea what I was thinking, but it was better than nothing.

"Bulbasour, Vine whip!" Grey called

Bulbasour obliged, but Zubat got out of the way. Because Bulbasour missed Zubat, the Vine hit me instead, causing me to fall back in pain. Man those Vines stung! I accidentally returned Zubat as I fell. I rubbed my cheek, which still stung.

"Give up already?" Grey taunted

"Your Bulbasour just hit me!" I retorted

While Grey didn't seem to care, I could see that Bulbasour hadn't meant to hit me. I threw a poke ball that had fell out of my pocket, hoping it wasn't Squirtle…I got my wish.

"Pidgey!"

"I got up, the pain slowly going away "Pidgey, use peck!" I expected the Pidgey to oblige, but she started twisting, launching herself towards the opponent. I recognized the move as Drill peck…but Pidgey shouldn't have learned that. The Bulbasour was knocked out quickly.

"Go rattata!" Grey said, throwing another poke ball.

"Rattata!"

I reached for Pidgeys poke ball, but found it wasn't there "come back Pidgey!" I called. The Pidgey flew behind me, signifying it wasn't in the battle. I threw a poke ball "go, Squirtle!"

"Squirtle!"

"Rattata, use bite" grey called.

Rattata missed, and Squirtle tackled it, causing it to be knocked out.

"Man I need stronger Pokémon" Grey said, returning the rattata "oh well, see you later" he ran back towards the city, which was a bit odd. What happened next was even stranger.

Both the Squirtle AND the Pidgey started glowing, and when the light was gone, I had a Wartortle and a Pidgeotto. "Cool!" I said. I returned both and headed towards the gym, ready for misty.

We went in, and found it was pretty much a water park with a battle field at the end. Once again, there weren't any trainers, although I knew there should be. Misty was in the back.

"So, you two are my next challengers?" she asked. We nodded "you know one of you will have to battle me tomorrow, right?" she asked.

"Ok, I'll battle you first" I said

"That's the spirit!" she said excitedly. She threw a poke ball "go Staryu!"

"Staryu!"

"Go Wartortle!" I said, throwing a poke ball of my own.

"Wartortle!"

"Staryu, use swift!" she called. Staryu obliged, and Wartortle was knocked back. Thankfully it was controlled, so it didn't hit me or Aqua.

"Wartortle, Bubble beam!" I called. Wartortle obliged, and the Staryu fainted.

"Go Starmie!" she said, throwing another poke ball

"Starmie!"

"Wartortle, Bubble beam again!" I called. Wartortle obliged, but it missed

"Water pulse Starmie!" Misty said. Again, the attack missed

"Use Tackle!" I said.

"Counter with Scald!" Misty said.

Wait, Scald wasn't supposed to be useable! Wartortle rolled out of the way mid tackle, and hit the Starmie, knocking it out. Unfortunately, the boiling hot water kept going.

I dove aside, not wanting another battle related injury, but Aqua wasn't so lucky. She let out a cry of pain as the water hit her.

"I'm so sorry!" Misty said, running over to Aqua as I returned Wartortle. Aqua had started crying in pain. "You need to get her to the Pokémon center, they'll know what to do. I'll give you the badge tomorrow"

I picked Aqua up and took her to the Pokémon center. They told me the best they could do was ease the pain, but she wouldn't be ready for travel for a couple days. I sighed and went to the room they gave me. The good thing was I could rest for a while, and there was still route 24 and 25 to explore. I fell asleep thinking about what might be over there.

**Another chapter done! I needed to split the city into two pieces because I hadn't realized how much you need to do to get through it…so, yea. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Also remember that if you want a character to catch a Pokémon, name the character and the Pokémon. Bye for now!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 7: a team of thieves

I woke up several times to screaming from a nearby room, and I assumed it was Aqua, but since the hall way was too dark to see, I didn't check, and some of the Pokémon that helped Nurse Joy took care of it. I woke up in the morning and immediately went to check on Aqua.

"Her burns keep hurting, but she's healing pretty quickly. Give her a few days, she'll be healed by a week maximum." Nurse joy said "in the meantime, try going over to rout 24 and 25, you might find something cool there."

I nodded "thanks for taking care of her, I know it's not usual." I said

"The hospital is WAY too far, and her burns were caused by Pokémon anyways. Me and Chansey are doing the best we can" she said

"See you later" I said, heading out. Well, I was alone again…besides my Pokémon, of course. Though that didn't really count, the only one I could understand was Pikachu. I went across the bridge, and was stopped by a man.

"Hey, care for a nugget?" he asked. I knew it was rhetorical when he gave it to me anyways.

"Thanks, I guess" I said

"Don't mention it" he said "you know, you look like a guy whose perfect for Team Rocket" he said "how about it? Care to join the best organization in Kanto?"

Uh oh, that wasn't good. I didn't know much about Team rocket, maybe their intentions were actually good, but I didn't really want to join a band of thieves. "No thanks, sorry" I replied.

I felt it was rude to deny the offer, but I didn't want to take the risk. "Fine, if you won't join on your own free will, I'll make you" he said. He threw a poke ball "go Ekans!"

"Ekans!"

I didn't feel so bad about denying the offer now. I threw a poke ball "go Wartortle!"

"Wartortle!"

"Use bubble beam!" I called. The Ekans didn't stand a chance

"Go Zubat!" the man said

"Use tackles!" I called. Again, no competition.

"Ok, ok, have it your way!" the man said, running off after recalling his Pokémon.

I was about to return Wartortle, but then I thought about how little I let him out. I decided to give him a treat, and let him stay out. Pikachu started talking to him pretty quickly. I thought it was amazing how Pokémon of different species could get along so well. Then again, we were talking about the equivalent of a mouse and a turtle, so there isn't really anything for them to fight about. Now a Meowth and Pikachu, that might have been a different story. Then again, how much do I really know about Pokémon?

Soon, we got to a house at the end. "What's a house doing all the way out here?" I thought out loud

"Maybe we should check it out" Pikachu suggested. It was still a bit weird hearing her speak humanly, considering the others talk in whatever you call their language. I knocked on the door, and when there was no answer, I opened it slowly. I found a Pokémon there…that was all.

"Oh, thank goodness you're here!" it said. Did my translator finally pick up on the Pokémon language?

"Uh, thanks?" I said awkwardly

"You're probably confused about me being a talking Pokémon, aren't you?" it asked.

Ok, so it wasn't just me "yea, kind of"

"Well, I kind of accidentally mixed my DNA with the DNA of a Pokémon…" he said, shifting his…paws?

So this guy could manipulate his DNA, yet they didn't have a single car in sight? Then again, I was only up to the second gym, maybe there was another city that had cars. "Oh…have you tried reversing it?" I asked

"I can't reach the controls…" he said, his awkwardness more and more apparent

"Well, its ok, I'll get it for you" I said helpfully. He seemed like a nice guy after all.

"Really? Thanks!" he said, running into a machine. I pulled a lever, and there was a lot of noise and smoke. A man came out of the second side of the machine "whew, thank goodness that's done"

"Uh, you're welcome?" I said, a bit awkward myself

"Oh, didn't introduce myself. I'm Bill, I made the PC at the Pokémon center" he said. Well, that didn't really mean much to me. "Here, for all of your troubles" he gave me what looked like a boat ticket.

"Thanks" I said, taking the ticket.

"It's the S.S. Ticket. It will help you later, trust me." Bill said "also, if you would like, you can look at my computer to see some unique, and rare, Pokémon."

"Thanks" I said, going over to the computer. There were 4 Pokémon on the computer. One of the Pokémon was brown, and looked kind of like a fox, it was called Evee. I thought it was adorable, and I could hear Aqua's squeal of delight at seeing it. The second was similar, except it was red, and its main of fur was fire. This one was called Flareon. The third Pokémon was like the first, except it was yellow, and its fur stuck up in several places, it was called Jolteon. The final Pokémon looked like the first, except it was blue and had a mermaid tail, though it did have all four legs. This was called Vaporeon.

"Those are the Evee evolutions, each obtainable through Evee" Bill said.

"Thanks again" I said, heading out.

We headed back, and noticed there was no way out of the city. There was, however, a path connecting to the back part of a house. Upon looking at the house, there was a cop that wouldn't let us in. after a bit of trying to negotiate, I gave up and went to the Pokémon center. My thoughts were mostly of Aqua as I fell asleep.

**Yay! Another chapter! The next chapter is going to be different from the previous ones, you'll see how tomorrow. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Also remember my policy on Pokémon catching! Bye for now!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 8: making up for lost time

I woke up to the sound of worried voices, and soon found Leaf and Red in Aqua's room.

"It must be terrible getting hit by a Pokémon's move, especially one that inflicts status conditions!" Leaf said. I rubbed my cheek, thinking about how Grey had hit me with Vine whip, though it was an accident.

"The pain is going away, though Nurse Joy refuses to let me go yet" Aqua said. Her skin was still red in several places, but I could tell she was healing.

"This might help" Red said, spraying something onto Aqua's burns

"Ow! That stings!" she cried, pushing Red's hand away.

"It's not exactly meant for humans, but it should work none the less" he said

I could definitely see the red marks fading, though it was slowly. "You guys didn't come back her just for that, did you?" I asked

"Actually, we were training in Mount Moon, since there was no way out of the city" Leaf said

"Oh" I said

"Come on, let's see if Nurse Joy will let you challenge the gym now" Red said, helping Aqua out of bed. It was a bit weird to see reds caring side, considering all he seemed to think about was being the best trainer ever, but it was nice to know he had one. It was probably why Leaf traveled with him.

"Come on Alex, let's go watch them" Leaf said, pulling me after them.

Nurse Joy let us go after she saw Aqua wasn't in a lot of pain, then we went to the gym. Misty was waiting just like last time "feeling better Aqua?" she asked, concern in her voice. At first I was confused as to why a gym leader would care, but then I remembered she's the one who accidentally hurt Aqua in the first place.

"Much better, thanks for asking" Aqua said

"Ready to battle?" Misty asked, taking out a poke ball

"Yep" Aqua said

"Go Staryu!" misty said, throwing a poke ball

"Staryu!"

"Go Clefairy!" Aqua said, throwing a poke ball of her own.

"Clefairy!"

That's when I realized why Charmander didn't listen to Aqua, she never battled with him. Then again, she rarely battled at all.

"Staryu, use swift!" Misty called. Clefairy was knocked back, but got back up.

"Clefairy, use, uh…Tackle!" Aqua called. I could tell she didn't know all of its moves. Clefairy obliged, knocking out Staryu.

"Go Starmie!" Misty said, throwing a different poke ball.

"Starmie!"

"Use double slap!" Aqua called. Clefairy obliged

"Use water pulse Starmie!" Misty said. Clefairy dodged, and followed with another Double slap, knocking out the Staryu.

"Great job Aqua" I said

"Thanks" she said, smiling.

"Here, this is for you" Misty said, handing Aqua the Cascade badge, she gave one to me as well "I forgot to give this to you last time. Oh, and this is an apology for burning you" she gave Aqua a disk. "That's water pulse, my favorite move. I only have one to give, so you guys will have to share"

"Ok" we said together, and then we headed out.

Leaf and Red were waiting for us "did you get it?" Leaf asked. Aqua showed her the badge "yay! Now we're even again!"

"Yea, but I still can't keep going" Aqua said, looking at her feet

"Well, we can still find a way into the rout" Red said

"I guess so" I said, not entirely sure about it

"Don't worry, we won't abandon you" Leaf said

"I guess not…" Red said hesitantly. Then Leaf elbowed him "fine, we won't leave you"

After looking for a bit, I noticed the guard had left the house "maybe there's a way through here" I suggested.

Red opened the building slowly "hello?" he called

"Huh, doesn't seem-" I was cut off

"Don't come any further!" a man said. Looking closer, I saw he was wearing the grey team rocket suit "you have no proof!"

"What are you talking about?" Leaf asked "all we want is to get to the route"

"You guys are Liars! You know, forget this." He said. He threw a poke ball "go Machop!"

"Machop!"

"I got this" I said, reaching for a poke ball

"No, I'm going to show you how I really battle" red said. He threw a poke ball "go Pikachu!"

"Pikachu!"

Whoa, red had a Pikachu! "Pikachu, Thunder bolt!" he called. We all shielded our eyes as the Pikachu hit the Machop, knocking it out

"Go Drowzee!" the man said, throwing another poke ball

"Drowzee!"

"Drowzee, use hypnosis!" he called.

"Use thunder Pikachu!" Red called. The two moves were used simultaneously, and it looked like both Pokémon were knocked out. After a few seconds, I realized Pikachu was only asleep.

Both trainers returned their Pokémon "dang it! How are you guys so good?" the man asked

"We just want to get to the rout" Leaf repeated

"You'll never catch me!" he said, taking off

"We should go after him" red said, obviously ready to give chase

"No, there's no need. Besides, Aqua can't come" Leaf replied

"We should just head back, it'll be better" I said

"We should at least figure out what's next" Aqua said, finally speaking up

"You see? Even she agrees with me!" Red said "come on"

Before either me or Leaf could stop him, he went through the hole in the back, the same one the man had escaped through. We followed shortly, and found red looking around.

"Red, you don't have to be the hero every time" Leaf said

"I still wanted to catch him. What's up with this Team Rocket anyways?" Red said

"Come on, let's just go back" I suggested. With a little convincing, Red finally came back with us.

"We'll stay in the Pokémon center with you, ok?" Leaf said

"Ok" I said, then I talked to Nurse Joy about the arrangements.

After a little bit, I was able to get to bed. My thoughts were swirling as I drifted off to sleep.

**Another chapter done! This one took longer than I expected, but I should have the next one uploaded later today to make up for it. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 9: a look into the past

After breakfast, we checked with Nurse Joy and headed out immediately. The Rout was long, so there was plenty of time to talk. I had my Pokémon out (except for Zubat, who tended not to listen to me even though I took good care of it), and Aqua had a few of hers out too.

"You guys keep your Pokémon out?" Red asked

"Yea, it's good for company" I said

"They sure are" Leaf said with a happy sigh "aren't they red?"

"Uh, yea, defiantly" he said. There was something wrong, his usual collective attitude was now scattered and distracted

"What's up Red?" Aqua asked the question I was thinking

"Well…I'd rather not talk about it" he said

"Come on Red, it's an interesting story!" Leaf said

Red sighed "well, being with Pokémon reminds me of how I got here" he said

"Wait, you're not from Kanto?" I asked

"He's from a nearby region, similar in many ways, but not exact" Leaf said

"Well, why don't you tell us about it?" I asked.

"Well, ok" he said with a sigh "I lived with my parents, both of whom love Pokémon. When I was five, a group of bandits forced us out of our house. My parents had been in another city that day, and my friend, who was watching me, tried to defend me. He was out matched, and was taken by them. He did, however, leave a poke ball behind. The poke ball had a note that said 'if found without a trainer, release Pokémon inside.' I did so, not knowing what it would do, and I found it had a Pikachu. I fully expected the Pikachu to run away, but he didn't, and instead, he looked at me. I had never been interested in Pokémon until I saw that Pikachu. I could tell it had been put through tough training, and I could tell it had a strong bond with my friend. It led me to the next town, where a group of travelers took me in. ever since then, I've loved being around Pokémon. I never found out where my parents were, or what happened to them, but after a few years, Pikachu disappeared. I assumed he ran away, being bored keeping me company. When I was old enough, I took a boat to Vermillion city. That's how I came to Kanto. I don't exactly remember how, but I ended up in Pallet town, and I stayed there. Even though I love Pokémon, I don't like keeping them out because I feel like they'll run away, and you still need them in sight to return them to the poke ball." Red said.

"Wow…so you've been through a lot" I said

"I suppose so. It's also why I want to become so powerful, so that I can defend others, instead of having to be defended." He replied.

Wow, that explained so much. Just then, we got to the end of the path "I think this is Saffron city" Leaf said, changing the subject.

"Then let's go" red said. The moment we stepped in, the gourd stopped us.

"Sorry, I can't let you through" he said

"Why not?" Aqua asked

"Just cant." He said "do you have any water on you?"

"Not really, sorry" I replied. Truth was, we only had enough for us, and only for one day.

"Ok, I still can't let you pass" he said

I saw red about to take out a Poke ball, but Leaf stopped him "let's just go you guys, we should find another way around" she said, walking out.

"Leaf, there isn't another way" Aqua said.

"Actually, there's a passage that runs under the city, we can get through that way" red said

"Oh…then let's go" she said.

After we went through the secret passage, there was another long, empty rout ahead. We walked for a little bit before I asked Leaf "so, what's your story?"

"Mines is a bit less dramatic" she said "I grew up in Pallet town. I wasn't really interested in Pokémon, but I liked being around people. Actually, I was best friends with Grey growing up. About five years ago, Grey didn't come over like normal. After a week, I went to see what was going on, and he was really mean to me. I never trusted anyone after that…except my mom, of course. I became lonely, and soon looked for other things to do. That's when I discovered how wonderful Pokémon really can be. A Pidgey had landed on my shoulder while I was looking in the water. At first, I absentmindedly shoed it away, but it came back. It had a berry in its mouth, which it dropped in front of me. This happened several times throughout the week, and I learned to love Pokémon because of it. Later on, after Professor Oak had convinced me to go to his lab, I found Red there, as well as a kid named Max. Max became Reds rival, and after a battle, took off with a Bulbasour. Red had already chosen Squirtle, so I got Charmander. Red was about to challenge me to a battle, but hesitated to pull out the poke ball. Instead of challenging me to a battle, he asked if I wanted to help him complete the Pokedex the professor gave us. That's when I found my new friend, and why I'm not shy anymore" she finished with a sigh.

"Wow, I couldn't imagine being abandoned like that" I said

"Well, we have each other now, and neither one of us wants to leave the other." Leaf said, looking at Red.

I was about to say something, but we had gotten to the city, and they went to go train. I talked to Nurse Joy about sleeping arrangements, and quickly went to bed. I wasn't sure what was next, but I knew it would be hard, and I fell asleep.

**Another chapter done! I wanted to complete this chapter and upload it today to make up for not uploading one yesterday, so here it is! Also, I looked at the path for rout 5 and 6, and seeing how long they were, and how few events there was, I decided to put in Leaf and Red's back stories instead. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 10: sailing on a ship

After breakfast, we left towards the gym, but found there was no way through.

"How are we supposed to challenge the gym if we can't get to it?" Aqua asked to no one in particular

Just then we heard a set of bells, and saw Leaf and Red riding bicycles "how did they afford those?" I asked.

"Let's ask" Aqua suggested. The two stopped just outside the Pokémon center

"Good morning guys!" Leaf said cheerfully

"Good morning" we replied in unison

"Like our bikes?" Leaf asked "the fan club president gave us bike vouchers for them"

"Oh, so you got them for free?" Aqua asked

"Yep, and we got you each one too" Leaf replied. Red untied two bikes from behind his and brought them to us.

"Thanks" we said in unison.

"We're going to go train again, good luck with the gym" Red said.

"Wait, you guys have challenged it?" Aqua asked.

"Yea, the captain of the S.S. Anne has cut" Leaf said "he gave it to us before he got on, but you can still get it if you hurry"

"Ok, thanks" I said, running towards the dock.

We boarded the ship just before it took off. "Well, here we are" I said.

"Come on, let's find the captain" Aqua said.

Right as we started walking, a man came running up to us "welcome to the S.S. Anne" he said

"Uh, thanks" I replied awkwardly

"You know, this place is a good place to battle, don't you agree?" he asked

"I suppose so" Aqua said

"Good, then you won't mind battling" the man said. He threw a poke ball "go Growlithe!"

"Growlithe!"

Aqua beat me to the challenge "go Metapod!" she said, throwing a poke ball.

"Metapod!"

"Growlithe, ember!" the man called. Metapod was able to move out of the way

"Metapod, use Tackle" Aqua said. Metapod hit the Growlithe, who was then knocked out.

"Go Growlithe" the man said, throwing another poke ball.

"Growlithe"

"Tackle again Metapod!" Aqua said. The Growlithe was knocked out.

"I guess you're better than I thought" the man said, returning his Pokémon

"I guess so" Aqua said. The man walked away, and the moment he was out of eyesight, the Metapod started glowing "huh?"

After a few minutes of glowing, the light faded, and in replace of Metapod was a Butterfree

"Butterfree!"

"Wait…Metapod evolves into this?" Aqua asked, looking at me.

"I told you you would get your wish" I said smiling

Aqua was grinning "thanks Alex!" she said, hugging me.

We continued on, with Aqua's new Butterfree hovering nearby, and eventually got to the last stairs. Before we could approach it, a familiar voice sounded behind me

"Wait up Alex!" I heard Grey call, running up to me from behind "so, you came here too, huh?"

"Yea, we thought it wouldn't be a bad experience" I said

"Well, since we're both here, why don't we battle?" he asked.

I sighed "I don't have a choice, do I?" I asked

"Now you're getting it" he said. He threw a poke ball "go Pidgeotto!"

"Pidgeotto!"

"Go Wartortle!" I called, throwing a poke ball of my own

"Wartortle!"

"Pidgeotto, use drill peck!" Grey called

"Wartortle, Withdraw!" I called. In the game it didn't do much, but in the game the trainers couldn't get hurt. The Pidgeotto hit Wartortle shell, and bounced off, now dazed

"Wartortle, use slash!" I called, hoping he knew the move. I was in luck, and the Pidgeotto was out.

"Go Ivysaur!" Grey called, throwing another Pokémon

"Ivysaur!"

"Come back Wartortle!" I said, returning it. I was about to send out my Pidgeotto, when I remembered Pikachu, who hadn't really battled "go Pikachu!" I called.

Pikachu gave me a confused glance at first, then realized I was trying to let it battle, and ran up.

"Use Vine whip!" Grey called

"Counter it with Iron tail!" I called hoping Pikachu knew the move. She did, and the Ivysaur was knocked out.

"Go Kadabra!" Grey called, throwing a poke ball

"Kadabra!"

"Come back Pikachu" I called, and she ran back behind me "go Wartortle" I called, throwing a poke ball

"Wartortle!"

"Kadabra, use Psychic!" Grey called. There's no way to dodge what you can't see

"Use Head but!" I called, and the Kadabra was knocked out

"Go Rattata!" Grey called, throwing another poke ball

"Rattata!"

"Use Bubble beam!" I called, and Wartortle obliged, knocking Rattata out

"Whatever, I bet you still don't have the Thunder badge" he said, returning his Pokémon

"I'm getting there" I said

"Good luck with that" Grey said, running off

I returned Wartortle and we continued to where the captain was.

"Hello, welcome to the top of the S.S. Anne" the captain said

"Thanks" we replied

"Here, I think you'll find more use in this then I have" he said, giving me a disk "it's the move cut, it's a bit different from most moves you'll be given."

"How so?" Aqua asked

"Well, some trees are weaker than most, but they stand in the path of trainers. With cut, you'll be able to cut down those trees, even if you're not in battle" the captain replied.

"Wow, thanks!" Aqua said.

Soon, we arrived back at the dock, and after we got off, the ship sailed back out. We had no idea if it would come back, but we doubted it. I took out the disk "so, we have to teach this to one of our Pokémon, huh?" Aqua asked

"Yep" I said "I think my Paras can learn it, and so can your Clefairy"

"Well, let's teach them both" she said. I let out Paras, while she let out Clefairy, and we spent the rest of the day teaching them cut.

"I'll test it out" I said, taking Paris over to the tree near the gym "Paras, use cut!"

The Paras swung its arm, slicing through the tree with ease, and the tree collapsed in a pile of dust. We went back to the Pokémon center for the day, and went to bed. I was too tired to think of anything as I fell asleep.

**Yay! Another chapter done! I tried to show the use of cut the best I could, but there's no other way to describe it really. Remember: I love input, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Also, I'm still open to Pokémon suggestions, just make sure to say who's catching the Pokémon. Bye for now!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 11:through electric fences

After breakfast we left the Pokémon center again. When we got to the area with the tree I cut down, I noticed it had regrown.

"I thought we cut the tree down already" Aqua said, confused.

"I did, I guess I'll have to do it again" I said, letting out Paras "Paras, use cut!"

The Paras swung his arm again, slicing the tree into dust. I then returned Paras as we headed into the gym. I expected it to be like the last few gyms, empty except for a straight path to the leader, but instead there seemed to be several rows of containers with an electric fence blocking the gateway. This time, there was a guide at the door way.

"Welcome to the Vermilion city gym" he said "the trainers here use electric Pokémon"

"Uh…trainers?" Aqua asked, looking for any hidden people

"Oh…I'm not really sure where they went." The guide said, scratching his head "I guess the gym leader is still in the back though, or he would have told me"

"Should we come back another time?" I asked

"No, no. the leader will still battle you" he said "to turn off the fence, you have to press two switches, one for each fence. Just be careful, press the wrong switch and you have to start over"

"Thanks" I said.

We went over and looked in the containers "oh, these are the switches!" Aqua said, pressing one. Nothing happened "huh…must be the wrong one…"

It took several tries, and at least fifty presses, but we finally managed to open the fence. Before we went in, Aqua stopped me "Alex, what's good against electric?" she asked.

I had completely forgotten none of our Pokémon were suited against electric Pokémon…at least, none of mines were. She could use Clefairy or Charmander, all of my Pokémon were weak against it "ground and rock, I think" I said

"So, like Geodude?" she asked.

I looked at her "how do you know about Geodude?" I asked

"Red gave me one, knowing I'd need it" she said, taking out a poke ball "here, you'll probably need it more"

I took the poke ball from her and put it in my pocket "thanks Aqua" I said, hugging her.

At this point, the leader noticed us "so, you two are my next challengers?" he asked

"Yep, I'll face you first" I said

He nodded "I'm Lt. Surge" he said

"I'm Alex and this is Aqua" I said

"Nice to meet you, ready to battle?" he asked

"Ready when you are" I said, grabbing a poke ball.

He threw his first "go Voltorb!" he called

"Voltorb!"

"Go Geodude!" I said, throwing the poke ball I had grabbed.

"Geodude!"

"Voltorb, explosion!" he called. The Voltorb blew up, knocking everyone back, and knocking itself out. "Ok, not the smartest move" he said, getting up.

"It's fine" I said, getting up as well.

He threw another poke ball "go Pikachu!" he called

"Pikachu!"

"Geodude, rock tomb!" I called, hoping he knew the move, I was in luck, and the Pikachu fainted

"Go Raichu!" the leader called, throwing another Pokémon.

"Raichu!"

"Raichu, thunder bolt!" he called

"Geodude, dig!" I called. Geodude was faster, and dug underground. I barely got out of the way of Raichus attack, though. The Geodude came up underneath Raichu, knocking it out.

"Congratulations" Surge said, returning his Pokémon "here, you earned it" he gave me the thunder badge.

"Thanks" I said, returning Geodude.

"Give me a moment and I'll be ready for you, Aqua" he said, walking off. After a few minutes, he came back "ok, ready to battle?"

"Ok" Aqua said, switching places with me

Surge threw a poke ball "go Voltorb"

"Voltorb"

Aqua hesitated "I thought you were ready?" he said, more concern in his voice than contempt.

"I am" Aqua said, throwing a poke ball "go Charmander!"

"Charmander!"

"Voltorb, use Explode!" Surge called. I honestly don't know what he was thinking this time, as the same thing happened as before.

"I really should have thought that through…" he said. He threw another poke ball "go Pikachu!"

"Pikachu!"

"Charmander, scratch!" Aqua called. Charmander ignored her, and used ember instead. Luckily, it worked just as well.

"Go Raichu!" Surge said, throwing another poke ball.

"Raichu!"

"Charmander, Ember!" Aqua called. Instead of using Ember, the Charmander shot out a line of Flames. In other words, he used Flame thrower. "Whoa"

The Raichu rolled out of the way "Raichu, thunder wave" Surge called

I could see the sparks as Charmander became paralyzed

"Charmander, Flamethrower!" Aqua called. Charmander somehow was able to pull it off, causing Raichu to faint.

"Wow, that was amazing" Surge said, returning his Pokémon

"Thanks" Aqua replied. But before she could return Charmander, he began to glow "whoa"

After a little bit, the glowing stopped, and now there was a Charmeleon where the Charmander was before. "Charmeleon!"

"Cool!" Aqua said. She returned him after a few minutes.

"Here, you've more than earned it" Surge said, giving Aqua the Thunder badge. He pulled out a disk "a gift from me" he gave it to Aqua "its Shock wave, it paralyzes the opposing Pokémon. It's my favorite move. I only have one though, so you'll have to share."

"Thanks" she said, giving it to me to put away.

"Oh, just so you know, there's a Snorlax blocking the way to the next route. But you could go through Digletts cave if you want" Surge said

"Thanks for the tip" I said "bye"

"Bye" he replied as we headed out.

We didn't get very far before we saw the cave that was Digletts cave, unfortunately it was also getting very dark, so we decided to set up the tent we had and sleep in there that night. Not much happened, and I went to sleep with a pretty blank mind. The only thing was, I kept dreaming about a bird-like figure, which I assumed was a Pokémon. There was no way to be sure, but I had a bad feeling about it.

**Yay, another chapter done! Digletts cave is pretty straight forward, so I'm not really going to go into it. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 12: a flash of silver

The loud cry woke me up. I got up and saw Aqua had been waken up by it too.

"Do you think it's the same as last time?" Aqua asked sleepily.

"I don't know, but I'll find out" I said, walking out. I saw red and leaf running up, but the source of the noise wasn't visible

"Did you hear it too?" Leaf asked, obviously scared

"Yea, do you know what caused it?" I asked

"We thought you might know" Red said.

Before anyone could say anything else, a large silver bird swooped down and landed a little bit away. It let out a loud cry and looked at us. I recognized this as the Pokémon that had visited us at mount moon.

"Wh-what Pokémon is that? Leaf asked, obviously scared by the huge Pokémon. Considering it was about the size of a tree, I didn't blame her.

"I'll catch it, don't worry" Red said

"Red, that's not a good idea" I said

"It showed itself for some reason" he replied, throwing a poke ball "go, Pikachu!"

"Pikachu!"

The bird Pokémon gave a loud cry, I couldn't tell what emotion it portrayed though.

"Pikachu, use thunder!" Red called. Pikachu didn't move "Pikachu?"

The Pikachu stood still, staring at the large bird Pokémon, who didn't do anything.

"What's wrong with him?" Red asked rhetorically. I looked at Pikachu, who had come out with me, and found she was in the same mesmerized state, even though I hadn't sent her into battle.

"I don't know my Pikachu is acting the same way" I said, curious about what happened.

I took out my Pokedex to try to scan the Pokémon "unknown Pokémon" I said.

"Huh, so the Pokedex doesn't have it programmed" Red mused

"The Pokedex can gather data on most Pokémon here, but it needs an upgrade to gather every Pokémon's data" Leaf said.

Red returned his Pikachu "maybe it only affects certain Pokémon" he suggested

"I don't think so" I said "but I'll try" I threw a poke ball "go, Wartortle!"

"Wartortle!"

The bird watched, not reacting "Wartortle, use bubble beam!" I called. Wartortle didn't move, but he also didn't seem to be in the trace Pikachu was in. "Wartortle, use Bubble beam!" I repeated, hoping to get it to listen. It didn't move.

"Maybe I was wrong" Red said

"No, he's choosing not to move" I said.

Just then Aqua came out of the tent "whoa, its back?" she asked

"Yea, but the Pokémon won't attack it" I said

"Don't attack then" Aqua suggested

"What do you mean?" I asked, returning Wartortle

"I mean, speak to it directly" she said, stepping up to the bird. I could tell she was nervous, which made me question why she choose to speak herself.

She spoke in whispers, so I couldn't tell what she was saying, but periodically, the bird would give a quiet call, as if speaking. Suddenly, with a loud cry, the Pokémon took off and flew away.

"What did you say to it?" I asked

"I asked it what it wanted, and after a while of what could be considered talking, it was satisfied" Aqua said

"Did you figure out what it wants?" Red asked

"It doesn't seem to want anything, it was just curious" Aqua replied.

"Well, we should head off before it gets too late" I said.

We went through Digletts cave to continue. While there, Aqua and red caught Digletts while me and Leaf caught Dugtrio.

When we got to the end of the cave, Leaf turned to us "oh, I almost forgot, we have something you might want." She said, giving us a disk.

"What's this?" I asked.

"It's Flash, we got it from someone near here" Leaf said "we had gone ahead a bit before the sun set, and we got this"

"Wait, so this is your only one?" I asked

"Well, it's our second one" Red said "it allows you to illuminate dark caves. It'll come in handy in Rock tunnel"

"Wait, isn't Rock tunnel dangerous?" I asked

"It is" Leaf said "and that's why we've decided we want to travel with you guys"

"Well, we loved your company on the route, so why not" Aqua said

"That was one day, I was talking about until the Elite four" Leaf said

"Wait, you want to travel with us permanently?" I asked

"It's mostly her idea, but I figured it was better that way" Red said.

I figured it would be good to travel together, my only concern was gym battles "what about when we challenge gyms?" I asked

"We don't need to stick together all the time. There will be some times where me and Leaf go to train or catch Pokémon" Red said

"Come on, aren't you guys the ones who wanted to travel together in the first place?" Leaf asked

"Yea, we were" I said "I guess we should stick together"

"Yay!" Aqua and Leaf cried simultaneously with joy.

The sun was low in the morning sky, so we made it to Cerulean city at around noon. After dinner, we found the tree blocking us from going to route 9. After getting past that, we headed towards Rock Tunnel. It was midafternoon by the time we found the Pokémon center.

"Huh, maybe we should explore the power plant" Leaf suggested, looking at the map.

"I heard a legendary Pokémon lives there" Red said.

"if you can find the way, we'll go" I said. We looked for it for about an hour, before Aqua saw it.

"I found it guys!" Aqua called "it's over there!" she pointed to a building that was on a piece land downstream. We could get there, but there was a wall blocking our way, and no one had surf.

"We'll come back to it later, right now we don't have surf though." I said

"Ok, maybe later" Leaf said.

I got into bed as soon as Red made arrangements with Nurse Joy, and I fell asleep thinking about the mysterious bird.

**Another chapter done! The bird Pokémon that I've been describing doesn't really have a name yet, but I'll try to think of one. Remember, I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input! bye for now!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 13: a new legend

After breakfast, we once again headed off, and after a few minutes, we were in the entrance to Rock Tunnel.

"Should we go in?" Aqua asked

"I taught my Clefairy Flash, so yes" leaf said, letting her Clefairy out. We went in, and it soon became very dark "Clefairy, use Flash!"

The cave illuminated a bit, and now we could see where we were going…somewhat. After a bit, Leaf spoke up again "I found out more about the Pokémon we saw" she said.

"Really? What did you learn?" I asked, curiously.

"Well, recently, a legend has been spreading through the Pokémon world. No one knows where it started, but its spreading fast." Leaf started.

"Wouldn't that be more of a myth?" Aqua asked.

"well, I don't know what its considered, but there have been stories for hundreds of years based off of it, things that were thought to be illusions or caused by ghost Pokémon" Leaf said

"So, it's new, and its old?" Red asked, confused

"I don't know, the man I talked to said it was new" Leaf said "something about how the story always changes, but this one is finalized"

"So, it's made up?" I asked

"How about I tell you the legend first?" Leaf suggested. We nodded "good. There are two known dream Pokémon. I didn't get the names, but they weren't important to the story. One of the Pokémon assured good dreams, the other assured nightmares. These Pokémon affect night dreams, but there's a Pokémon that affects day dreams. The legend says that when the two night dream Pokémon were created, the energy caused from them being in contact created a third Pokémon, named Veurean. Veurean was a mistake, and because of that, it slept for many years, even though other Pokémon continued. When Veurean finally woke up, weird things started happening wherever it went. Some people said they saw figures that weren't actually there, others said that they tasted, smelled, or felt something when it wasn't there. It started out as little things that could be ignored, but as Veurean gained strength, the illusions became worse and worse, sometimes driving people to madness. After several years, the illusions became so bad, people were thought to be possessed because of how they reacted to the outside world. Once Veurean realized it was causing havoc, it took control of its powers…but not completely. Anyone who was near Veurean became attracted to it, whether knowledgeable of the attraction or not, and anyone who saw it became entranced, making it impossible to move for several days at times. Veurean slowly controlled its power, making less and less of an impact. It now does not affect humans unless it feels threatened, and the human usually won survive that encounter."

"Wow, that's a complicated legend" I said

"Sure is" Leaf said "Veurean will seek out the one it thinks is worthy of possessing its power, and will stay until someone who does not deserve it catches it. after escaping the grasp of whoever holds it, Veurean will fly around for a year, looking at every person it encounters to find if they have the ability to use it wisely, after the year is done it makes a choice. If it does not feel any of the people it encountered are the right trainer, then it will sleep at its birthplace, which is inaccessible, for 5 years, after which it will search for another year, continuing the cycle. If it finds a worthy trainer, then after the year is done, it will search for that trainer again. While searching for the right trainer, it cannot be caught, after finding the right trainer, only that trainer may catch it."

"So, it runs away from the wrong trainer?" Aqua asked

"No." Leaf said "I asked the same question myself. Veurean has a special ability no other Pokémon has, called trance. While it doesn't affect humans unless it chooses to, it does affect Pokémon. It will entrance any Pokémon that sees it for as long as that Pokémon is looking at Veurean. The effect of this trance varies with each species, but no Pokémon will attack it."

"So how does anyone catch it?" I asked

"If a Pokémon is holding the dream goggles, it can see through the trance." Leaf said

"So how do you get the dream goggles?" Red asked.

"You can't" Leaf said "Veurean must be holding the Dream goggles in order to be used in battle, and it takes the Dream goggles when it leaves. Veurean knows mostly psychic moves, but it knows fling. When it wants a trainer to catch it, it flings the Dream goggles at the Pokémon, who can then fight. However, if the Pokémon is holding an item, fling damages the Pokémon. This also means whatever Pokémon you use will not catch the goggles, causing you to be unable to battle. If that's the case, Veurean will take off, leaving you with the goggles. If someone else gets the goggles, then Veurean entrances them, causing them to give it back. It will then go to sleep for five years, no longer believing the trainer is worthy. Its only happened once, but it's happened."

"So there's really no other way to catch it?" Red asked

"Unless you want to be entranced for the rest of your life, which wouldn't be very long, then I wouldn't try." Leaf said

Aqua stayed quiet, which was odd, considering she seemed so interested earlier.

I was going to say something, but before I could we got to the end of the tunnel. After Leaf returned her Clefairy, we started walking, and after a bit of walking, we got to town. We immediately went to the Pokémon center, and after checking with Nurse Joy, we went to our rooms. I kept thinking about Veurean, and how it seemed to like me. Did it choose me? If so, why? These were my thoughts as I drifted to sleep.

**Well, this is what happens when you end up with a half day at school with nothing to do…TWO CHAPTERS IN ONE DAY! Yea…I kind of just wrote nonstop….anyways. While Veurean itself is mine, the name was given to me by 'Pikmin Biscuit', so here's me giving him credit. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 14: new members

There wasn't much to do in Lavender town, so after breakfast we headed out.

"You know, it's weird how nothings really happened these past few days" Leaf commented

"You don't think seeing a giant bird Pokémon counts?" Red asked

"Well, besides that." Leaf said. "I mean think about it. We've had straight walks since the last gym battle"

"Besides Veurean" I said

"Point is, this will be the third full day nothing happens" she said.

I was about to reply, but I heard a rustling. That would be normal, except I could see the Pokémon running around, this one was obviously hiding "hang on, I want to check that out" I said, going into the bushes.

After a bit of looking through the tall grass, I saw a brown fox-like Pokémon…Eevee. The Pokémon immediately darted a bit away, then looked back, obviously scared. I stood still, knowing it would run no matter what I did. My next option was either to try moving closer, or get it into the open, either of which required me moving. I stepped forward slowly, and after a couple of steps, the Eevee darted onto the path.

"Oh my god it's so cute!" Aqua said with a squeal of delight.

"How did you find an Eevee?" Leaf asked in wonder.

"However you found it, someone better catch it" Red said, reaching for a poke ball.

"No, any movement and it will run off" I said, standing as still as possible

"Well we can't just leave it, there isn't another one in Kanto!" Leaf said.

"Let me try" Aqua said, reaching for a poke ball.

"Aqua, you heard Alex" Leaf said.

"Let her try, if anyone can catch it it's her" I said.

Aqua threw a poke ball "go, Charmeleon!"

"Charmeleon!"

The Eevee looked at Aqua, and when she stepped forward, the Eevee jumped up, now ready to fight.

"Eevee!"

"I don't want to hurt it, what do I do?" Aqua asked to no one in particular.

"Use False swipe, Charmeleon should know it" Leaf suggested.

"Use False swipe!" Aqua called. Charmeleon slashed at the Eevee, knocking it back. The Eevee got up unsteadily, and tried tackling Charmeleon, but missed.

"Throw a poke ball now!" I told her.

"Oh yea" she said, throwing one. The poke ball shook for a while, but finally clicked. "Yay!" she cried with joy, letting out her new Eevee.

"Here, I'll heal it" Leaf said, getting a potion out of her bag. At first, the Eevee stepped behind Aqua, but after some encouragement, it held still long enough to be healed. "All better, right?"

"Eevee!"

The Pokémon jumped into Leafs arms "it seems to like me" she said with a giggle.

"Wouldn't you like someone who healed you?" I asked.

"All said, you should probably return her" Red said

"How do you know it's a girl?" Aqua asked

"I looked her up, the pokedex says it's female" red said.

Aqua returned Eevee and we headed off. Once again we encountered a guard that wouldn't let us through, but asked for water anyways. After taking the underground passage, we emerged in a small field. It was noon, and we decided to stop for lunch. I saw Aqua go over to a nearby field, and a man came up to her. Leaf and Red were distracted with food preparation (though they were mostly messing around), so I was the only one who caught their conversation.

"Hello miss" the man said

"Hi there" Aqua said "I, uh, don't do well with battles"

"That's ok, I wasn't looking for a battle" the man said"

"Oh, well how can I help you then?" Aqua asked

"Well, I was thinking I could help you" the man said

"What do you mean?" Aqua asked

"Well, I have a Magikarp that's quite valuable, and it could be yours for 500 dollars" the man said.

"And it really is valuable?" Aqua asked. I know I should have done something, but something told me not to.

"Sure is, so how about it?" the man asked.

Aqua barely hesitated "Ok!" she said, giving him the money. In exchange, he gave her a poke ball.

"Enjoy" he said, before walking off a bit, though not very far.

Aqua came back "guys! Look what I just bought!" Aqua said excitedly

"Bought? How much did it cost?" Leaf asked

"Only 500 dollars!" Aqua said, still excited

"500! It better be worth it!" Red said

"It is!" Aqua said, letting out the Pokémon. The Magikarp flopped around on the floor.

"Wait, you bought a Magikarp for 500 dollars?" Leaf asked, looking at Aqua with Anger in her eyes

"Yea" Aqua said, not so sure of herself "he said it was valuable"

Red was scanning the Magikarp with his pokedex "it's just an ordinary Magikarp Aqua" Red said "you've been scammed"

Aqua was Quiet, probably embarrassed that she fell for it, but Leaf looked ready to yell at the next person who did even the slightest thing wrong "who sold it to you?" Leaf asked, barely restrained anger in her voice.

"He's over in the field" Aqua said, looking at her feet. Leaf walked towards the man, and we followed.

"Hey sir!" Leaf said

The man turned around "hello" he said.

"Did you just sell this girl a Magikarp?" Leaf asked

"Yes I did" he said.

"And you said it was valuable?" Leaf said, the anger obvious in her voice now

"Yes, because it is" the man replied

"How is a Magikarp valuable?" Leaf yelled

"It isn't, but the gyarados it evolves into is" the man said

Leaf stomped away "so, you sold her it because it was about to evolve?" I asked

"I know, I overpriced it. You can have the money back if you really want" the man said, glancing at Leaf. I looked over and saw her running into the underground passage with a poke ball in her hand. What she planned to do, I had no idea.

"We'll talk tomorrow, ok?" I asked, not wanting to deal with him right then. He nodded, and went into the town. Leaf took the rest of the day in the passage, and I went to bed before she came back. I was too tired to think of anything as I fell asleep.

**Yay! Another chapter done! The man who sold Aqua the Magikarp will be in the next chapter as well, just so you know. Also, the man, along with the idea of Aqua buying a Magikarp, was given to me by 'Pikmin Biscuit,' and Aqua catching an Eevee was also his idea. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. bye for now!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 15: another surprise

Leaf wasn't back when we woke up, so Red went to find her and give her breakfast while we stayed at camp. While they were gone, Aqua decided to let out Eevee.

"How do you just abandon a cute guy like this?" Aqua asked, hugging Eevee.

"Some trainers only care about strength and not the Pokémon themselves." I said.

"Well there's no way I'm abandoning this guy, or any of my other adorable Pokémon!" Aqua said.

"That's a good way to live" the man from yesterday said as he walked up.

"Glad to see you didn't just run away" I said, putting just enough anger in my tone to make him on edge. I wasn't exactly angry with him, but he wouldn't try to get out of consequences if he thought I was.

"Look, I'm really sorry about scamming you, I honestly didn't know that she didn't know about Magikarp" the man said.

"That's ok" I said "what's your name?"

"I'm Zain" he said

"Well, Zain, it's an honest mistake" I said "unfortunately I'm not sure Leaf sees it that way"

"Who?" Zain asked

"Oh, sorry, I haven't introduced my companions" I said "I'm Alex, this is Aqua, the girl who yelled at you is Leaf, and the boy in red is Red" saying Red was wearing red had a funny ring to it, but I'm sure Red wouldn't be all that happy if I mentioned it.

"Well, Aqua can have her money back" Zain said

"No, keep it" I said

"Ok, let me make it up to you in another way" Zain said.

"How so?" I asked.

"I'm not very good at battling, but I can find food within an hour, and I pretty good amount too" Zain said

"Your point?" I asked.

"Well, to make up for over pricing the Magikarp, I would like to travel with you" he said.

I looked at Aqua "if he means well, I say let him" Aqua said.

"Considering I see no problem with that, it's up to Leaf and Red now" I said

"What's up to us?" Red asked, coming back with Leaf, who looked much calmer now.

"Zain, the man here, would like to join us as we travel" I said

"I have no problem with it" Red said.

"How about you Leaf?" I asked.

Leaf looked at Zain "The first sign of trouble and you'll regret it" Leaf said, which pretty much meant yes.

"In that case, how about we go into Celadon city now?" I asked. They agreed, so we went in.

Zain went with Red to check in with Nurse Joy, and me, Aqua, and Leaf split up to explore the huge town. Leaf ended up getting a bottle of tea, which she explained would be for the guard, I ended up with 5 coin cases, which were apparently for the casino, and Aqua ended up shopping, getting all of us some great balls for later. After red got back, he went to the Casino, and soon after, came running back.

"Guys! I found a secret headquarters for Team Rocket!" he said excitedly.

"Well what are we waiting for, let's go!" Leaf said. I had already explained who Team Rocket was to Zain, so he followed. Down below, we found an elevator, but couldn't open it.

"Ok, let's go find the key!" I said.

"Hang on Alex" Leaf said.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Alex, we want you to stay here so you're at full strength" Red said

"So…you guys will find the key while I stay here?" I asked, feeling left out.

"Yes, and then you'll fight whoever is at the lowest floor" Leaf said. Now THAT made me feel better.

"Ok, just be safe" I said, as they ran off.

After a while, the others returned, tossing me the key. "Good luck" they each said in their own way.

I went to the lower floor, and found a single man in a suit waiting there "what's this? Someone's found our headquarters?" the man asked, turning to face me. I stayed silent "not much of a talker, are you?" again, I stayed silent, not knowing what to say "well, I am Giovanni, head of Team Rocket. I suppose you're here for the Silph Scope, aren't you?"

"Silph Scope?" I asked, not thinking to hide how little I know about it

"Hmm…why did you come here then?" Giovanni asked. Normally, I'd say something like "to stop Team rocket," but I felt I could get answers…if I hadn't taken so long thinking about it "no mater, I can't let you go now, can I?" he threw a poke ball "go Onix!"

"Onix!"

"Go Wartortle!" I called, throwing a poke ball of my own.

"Wartortle!"

"Onix, use Iron tail!" Giovanni called. Onix swung, but Wartortle jumped over.

"Wartortle, use bubble beam!" I called. Wartortle obliged, and Onix was out.

"Go Rhyhorn!" Giovanni said, throwing another Poke ball.

"Rhyhorn!"

"Wartortle, Bubble beam again!" I called. Rhyhorn was out in a moment.

"Go Kangaskhan!" Giovanni called, sending out his final Pokémon

"Kangaskhan!"

"Wartortle, use Slash!" I called. Kangaskhan was out in a moment.

"Wow, you're really something, huh?" Giovanni asked rhetorically "who are you anyways?"

"I'm Alex" I said

"Well, Alex, why DID you come down here?" he asked

I took a deep breath "I want to know more about Team Rocket" I blurted out.

Giovanni gave a chuckle "not something I'd expect from someone like you" he said "but I'll have to disappoint you, you'll find your answers in due time, but now, I must go. I sincerely hope we meet again, Alex" he said. Suddenly, he was gone. I went upstairs after picking up what I assumed was the Silph Scope.

"So, you defeated him?" Red asked

"Yea and I got this" I said, giving him the Silph Scope.

"Hmm…I'll have to look this up later. But right now, we should head to the Pokémon center" he said.

That's exactly what we did. I didn't really have any thoughts as I fell asleep.

**Another chapter done! Yay! In case you're wondering, Zain will be a permanent member of the team, thanks again to 'Pikmin Biscuit' for the suggestion of adding him! Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 16: growing grass

I woke up still wondering about Team Rocket, all I had learned was they had a Silph Scope for some reason. After breakfast, we headed towards the gym.

"We already got the badge yesterday, so we'll wait out here" Red said.

"And how about you Zain?" I asked

"I told you, I'm not good at battling, I'll stay out here, maybe get some food for later" he said

We nodded and went inside. The gym was pretty basic, trees grew along the path, and there were a bunch of them in a box-like formation. The guide saw us the moment we walked in "welcome to the Celadon city gym, where the trainers use grass type Pokémon." He said "the leader is in the back, in the tree box. You will have to use cut to get to her, good luck!"

There weren't any trainers, so we went straight to the back, where the leader was waiting. "Oh, there's two of you, I wasn't expecting that" she said "then again, a different pair came in yesterday, so who knows what would happen."

"Uh, yea, I guess" I said a bit awkwardly.

"Well, I am Erika, the grass type gym leader" She said.

"I'm Alex, and this is Aqua" I said "I'll be battling you first"

"Right to the point, huh?" she asked rhetorically. She threw a poke ball "go Victreebel!"

"Victreebel!"

My instinct was to send out Wartortle, but I quickly changed my mind, then threw my poke ball "go Pidgeotto!"

"Pidgeotto!"

"Victreebel, Vine whip!" Erika called. The vine hit Pidgeotto, but didn't do much.

"Pidgeotto, drill peck!" I called. The bird complied, and Victreebel was knocked out.

"Go Tangela!" she said, throwing another poke ball.

"Tangela!"

"Pidgeotto, drill peck!" I called. The bird Pokémon complied, knocking out the Tangela without a fight.

"Go Vileplume!" the leader called, sending out another Pokémon.

"Vileplume!"

"Drill peck again Pidgeotto!" I called. Instead of complying, the bird swooped down with its wings open, knocking Vileplume back, but not out.

"Vileplume, Giga drain!" Erika called. The Vileplume latched on to Pidgeotto, absorbing its energy.

"Pidgeotto, use wing attack!" I called. The bird Pokémon hit Vileplume, knocking it out.

"Wow, you sure are something" the leader said, returning her Pokémon.

"Thanks" I said. I was about to return Pidgeotto, but then she started glowing. "Whoa!"

After the glow died down, I now had a Pidgeot in Pidgeottos place.

"Pidgeot!"

"Yay! It evolved!" I said happily.

"Don't celebrate yet, I've got something to give you" Erika said. She pulled out a badge and a disk "this is the Rainbow badge" she gave me the badge "and this is Giga drain, it allows the user to drain the other Pokémon's energy." She gave me the disk.

"Thanks!" I said, returning my new Pidgeot.

"I'll be back soon, then I can battle you Aqua" she said, before heading out

"Ok Aqua, you'll have no problem this time" I said

"How do you figure that?" she asked

"Well your Charmeleon is perfect for grass types" I said

"Oh" she replied, right before Erika came back.

"Ok, lets battle" she said

"Ok" Aqua said.

Erika threw a poke ball "go Victreebel!"

"Victreebel!"

"Charmeleon, use flame thrower!" Aqua called. It obliged and the Victreebel was knocked out.

"Go Tangela!" Erika said, throwing another poke ball.

"Tangela!"

"Flame thrower again Charmeleon!" Aqua called, once again he obliged, knocking Tangela out.

"Go Vileplume!" Erika said, throwing her last poke ball.

"Vileplume!"

"Flame thrower again!" Aqua called to Charmeleon. Unfortunately, Charmeleon missed.

"Use Mega drains Vileplume!" Erika called. Charmeleon swiftly avoided the slower Pokémon.

"Use scratch!" Aqua called. Charmeleon obliged, sending Vileplume back.

"Vileplume, Sleep powder!" Erika called. Vileplume sent up a dark powder.

The powder fell over everything, and I soon saw Charmeleon drop to the floor, now asleep. Erika was holding her nose, as if trying not to breathe it in, and I was pretty sure Aqua was immune to powders, due to her being a former pikmin (read previous stories). However, I wasn't smart enough to stand far enough back. My eyes closed as sleep finally over powered me.

When I woke up, all I saw was Aqua's face, her bright blue eyes looking at me with concern.

"Alex? Are you ok?" she asked.

"Yea" I managed to say, as I sat up. Looking a bit farther into the battle field, I saw Charmeleon and Vileplume still standing, now turned to watch me. My guess was as they were fighting, one of them noticed I was passed out.

"Let's get back to battling, shall we?" Erika asked as I got up.

"Oh yea" Aqua said "Charmeleon, Flame thrower!" she said. Vileplume was now knocked out.

"Congratulations" Erika said, returning her Pokémon and giving Aqua the badge.

"Thanks" Aqua replied, returning her Pokémon.

"There's something special about both of you…I just can't figure out what it is." Erika said "anyways, you guys are ok sharing Giga Drain, right?"

"We are thanks" I said.

"In that case, good luck to the both of you" she said.

"Bye" we said in unison as we left.

When we got back to the Pokémon center, Red, Leaf, and Zain were already asleep, so we went to our rooms quietly. My thoughts churned as I lay in bed. Usually they were of recent events, today my mind wondered away from the normal thoughts. This time, I wondered about what I had seen of the Pokémon world. Before I had even heard of Pikmin, I would watch the Pokémon cartoon all the time, and my one wish had been to meet Ash. For the first time since I had gotten here, I looked back on that very wish. Was it possible for me to finally meet him? After all, I had gotten to meet Olimar (again, look at my previous stories for that reference), was it really THAT farfetched? Those were my thoughts as I drifted to a restless sleep.

**Yay! Another chapter done! Not sure what to say right now…so yea…remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 17: a sleepy day

My dreams were confusing to say the least. Nothing was clear; all I saw was silhouettes of different creatures, along with different sounds. The sounds ranged from loud cries, to quiet words, but I could never tell what it was or where it came from.

A final, loud cry rang out in the faint sunlight. "Go away" I mumbled sleepily.

"You heard it too?" I heard Pikachu say.

The loud cry called out, causing me to sit up. It was getting fainter, but I could hear it. "Come on, let's check it out" I said, walking out sleepily.

I don't remember ever being as tired as I was then, but I was tired none the less. I walked through the hall way half asleep, going towards the exit. I got out just in time to see a silvery bird fly off into the distance, and a silver feather floated onto my nose.

I picked up the feather and looked at it. There was a strange shine to it I couldn't quite place, but I knew I needed it. I carefully put it in my pocket as the others came out. "Good morning" Aqua said with a yawn.

"Morning" I replied back, still sleepy

"Are you ok? You look exhausted" Leaf said

"I'm fine" I said, yawning.

"Just don't fall asleep on us, ok?" Red said, obviously focused on something else.

I decided not to bug him as we ate breakfast, and then started back to Lavander town. "Why are we going back?" Aqua asked.

"Zain says we should visit the Pokémon tower" Red said.

"I heard about that" I said, yawning "ghost Pokémon surround the place, but can only be seen by a certain instrument" wait, when did I learn this?

"Your right" Red said, looking at me with curiosity "Zain says the Silph Scope will allow us to see the Pokémon, who would otherwise be unidentifiable specters"

"Are you sure it's ok?" I asked, my sluggish mind not at full capacity.

"Alex, are you sure you feel alright?" Leaf asked, her concern more obvious.

"Yea, I'm fine" I said half heartedly.

"Alex, you aren't fine" Aqua said.

"Did you get enough sleep?" Zain asked, showing interest.

"Yea, I got plenty of sleep" I said yawning, which didn't help my case.

"Alex, we can let you take a nap if you need it" Red said, concern showing.

"Honestly, I'm fine" I said, hoping I sounded more convincing than I felt.

The others finally seemed convinced, and soon, we came to the guard house. "Let's see if we can get through now" Leaf said, taking out the tea we got. We went in and were immediately stopped

"No one's getting through" the guard said

"I know" Leaf said innocently "I just thought you might like a drink"

"Hmm…" the guard said, seeming to think about the offer "well, I am rather thirsty…"

"Well, I have a bottle of Tea you might enjoy" she said, pulling out the bottle of tea we got and giving it to him.

"Oh…thanks" he said, taking a sip. "Mmm, this is delicious!"

Leaf smiled at him "well, we'll be on our way now" she said "come on guys, let's go"

As we started walking back, I went up to her "what are you doing Leaf?" I whispered to her

"Just stay quiet and wait" she whispered back.

Before I could say anything else, the guard called out "hang on a second"

Leaf turned around "something wrong?" she asked, the innocence in her voice obvious

"Well, you seem like good people, so I thought that I should let you through" the guard said

"Really? Thanks!" Leaf said, with more enthusiasm in her voice than she should have. She skipped along happily, with us close behind her. As soon as we were through the gate, she stopped "and that's how you get into places"

"Oh my gosh that was flawless!" Red said, as if they had been planning that for months.

She smiled "I try to be" she said.

We went through Saffron city and by mid afternoon, we arrived at Lavender town.

"Ok, so we're going to Pokémon tower, right?" Aqua asked

"Yep, let's go" Red said, and we went over.

Going inside was easy, but all of us hesitated. "What are we waiting for?" Leaf asked

"That's a very good question" Zain said

"So it's not just me then" Red said

I stayed silent, still trying to snap out of my grogginess. All of a sudden, there was loud laughter.

"wh-what was that?" Leaf asked, fear clear in her voice

"I-I don't know" Aqua replied, the same fear in her voice

"oh, quit being babies" Red said, though it was clear he was hiding his own fear.

Aqua and Leaf hugged each other as a loud, menacing laugh echoed through the floor.

"ok, this is getting creepy" Zain said

"M-m-maybe w-we s-should g-go" Leaf said, her fear very apparent

"L-L-Leafs r-r-right" Aqua said, with just as much fear

"You guys are paranoid" Red said, the fear somewhat apparent in his voice.

"you can't possibly tell me you're not a little scared" Zain said

"Of course I am, but I know it's just our imaginations" Red snapped

I looked at Pikachu, who was looking around her curiously. "we should keep going, It'll be better that way" I said.

The laughter rang out again, this time even more menacing, which sent the girls into hysterical crying. "where is that coming from!?" red yelled, his fear mixed with anger

"I-I don't know, b-but it's really freaking me out" Zain said, the fear getting to him.

Suddenly, a bunch of ghost-like beings appeared. The girls both screamed, and ran out together. Red and Zain ran after them, leaving me and Pikachu with the ghosts.

I ran out, not out of fear, but because I didn't want to know what those Pokémon could do.

"ok" Red said panting "let's get some sleep"

The others nodded, and collapsed right there. I helped him get them to their rooms, then went into mine. I fell asleep very quickly.

**Yay! Another chapter! This one is supposed to give a more 'real' feel to the Pokémon tower, which is supposed to be a resting place for Pokémon. Usually, Alex is much more fearful than I showed, but in this chapter, Alex was too sleepy to truly experience his normal fear. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Also, if there's a specific Pokémon you want either of my characters to catch, just let me know. Bye for now!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 18: ghost hunting

My dreams were filled with ghosts and creepy scenes, but I was able to get some rest this time. After breakfast, we went straight to Pokémon tower.

"Ok, now were ready" Red said, though no one moved

"So what are we waiting for then?" Leaf asked

"I'm still not sure we should do this" Aqua said

While everyone else was paralyzed by fear, I had encountered this while I was half asleep, so the fear didn't affect me. Suddenly, the laughter rang out again "that's it, give me this" I said, taking the Silph Scope from Red

"Hey! I can use it too!" he said, but I turned it on before he could take it back. A bright light flashed, and the laughter suddenly stopped.

"Well…I guess that works" Leaf said.

We headed up, but didn't get far before Grey called out "hey Alex!"

I saw him running out from the mist "I'm surprised you guys didn't get scared and run away." He said tauntingly. No one said a word "you did run! I didn't know you guys were wimps!"

"They ran, I didn't" I said, deciding to challenge him for a change "and I'm not running now"

He had a look like someone who finally got a challenge they wanted "now you've got the rival spirit" he said. He threw a poke ball "go, Pidgeotto!"

"Pidgeotto!"

"Go Wartortle!" I said, throwing a poke ball.

"Wartortle!"

"Pidgeotto, drill peck!" Grey called. It knocked Wartortle back as it hit.

"Wartortle, slash!" I called. The Pidgeotto was knocked out.

"Go Ivysaur!" Grey called, throwing another poke ball.

"Ivysaur!"

"Use quick attack!" I called. Wartortle knocked Ivysaur back, but didn't do much else.

"Ivysaur, vine whip!" Grey called.

"Counter with slash!" I called back. Neither Pokémon avoided the move, but Ivysaur was knocked out. Unfortunately, I could see Wartortle wasn't far from it.

"Go Growlithe!" Grey called, throwing another poke ball

"Growlithe!"

"Bubble beam!" I called back. The Growlithe didn't stand a chance.

"Go Kadabra!" Grey said, throwing another poke ball

"Kadabra!"

"Kadabra, physic!" Grey yelled, before I had time to say anything

"Wartortle, quick attack!" I yelled quickly. Both Pokémon were out at the same time.

"Go Gyarados!" Grey called, throwing another poke ball.

"Gyarados!"

"Go Paras!" I called, throwing another one of my poke balls.

"Paras!"

"Gyarados, hyper beam!" Grey called

"Paras, sleep powder!" I called. Paras was able to dodge the hyper beam, and then sprayed a black powder. The gyarados was the only one affected thankfully.

"Finish with mega drain!" I called, hoping it knew the move. It did, and the gyarados was out.

We returned our Pokémon at the same time "I'm always one step ahead of you…yet your always stronger…" Grey said. "What do you have that I don't?"

"Well…do you actually care about your Pokémon?" Leaf asked

Grey shot her a look of contempt "as long as their strong, their good" he said

"Then that's your problem" Leaf replied "all you care about is power, and that's not good"

"Whatever, I'm out of here" Grey said, before running off. I could see his arrogance slowly fading, but it was still there.

"Anyways, let's go" Leaf said.

After a little while, I started to feel like someone was following me. I stopped suddenly. "Does anyone else feel something?" I asked

"It's probably nothing, just keep walking" Leaf said.

We kept walking, but the feeling wouldn't go away. It was as if there was a sixth shadow. Suddenly, a group of Haunters appeared in front of us. There were four, and each of the others sent out a Pokémon to battle, leaving me a bit behind.

The feeling was more intense now than ever, and judging by how the others were battling, they weren't making any progress. I grabbed a poke ball, ready for whatever came my way. And it finally revealed itself. A Gengar stepped out of the shadow, standing in front of me. I knew it had been following me, and I really wanted to know why. I picked up a poke ball, ready to battle it, but it disappeared.

Suddenly, every shadow seemed like it was an illusion, another Gengar ready to strike. "What do you want?" I asked, trying to get its attention.

The others weren't paying attention, so it was as if they weren't there. The shadows formed words. At first, I couldn't tell what it was, but it slowly formed the words "catch me if you can."

I smiled "a game of tag, huh?" I said. I threw a poke ball "go Wartortle!"

"Wartortle!"

The shadows shifted, forming one, which then took off "follow that shadow, use Slash to stop it!" I called. The Wartortle ran after it, Slashing at it every once in a while.

I got out a poke ball, ready for the Gengar to come out. Finally, the Wartortle hit it, causing Gengar to tumble out of the shadows. That's when I threw the poke ball. It barely shook once before it clicked, and the Haunters ran away.

"So…it was a Gengar following us?" Red asked, his confusion obvious.

I nodded "and now it's one of my Pokémon" I said.

We continued up without anything else going wrong.

When we finally got to the top, there were three team rocket members, which Leaf, Red, and Zain took care of. At the end of the passage, there was a man in the back tied up.

"Mr. Fuji!" Leaf exclaimed.

"Oh, did you guys come to rescue me?" he asked.

"Of course we did!" she exclaimed, immediately untying him.

"Oh, you well thank you then." He got out two flutes "here, you guys should have these." He gave one to me and one to Leaf.

"Thank you!" me and Leaf said in unison.

After leaving the tower, Mr. Fuji went home, and we went back to Saffron city. It was dark when we got there, so we immediately went to our beds. I fell asleep with little thought.

**Yay! Another chapter done! Once again, there really isn't anything for me to say…Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. bye for now!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 19: answers from the boss

I got up and noticed Red and Leaf were gone, but figured they would come back later. After breakfast, Leaf and Red came running back.

"Ok, here's the plan" Leaf said breathless "you, Zain, and Aqua go into the Silph company tower and stop Giovanni, while me and Red try to lose the people chasing us"

Before I could respond, Red pulled Leaf away and they took off running. A moment later, I saw about four people running after them. "What was that about?" Aqua asked

"Oh, they dropped something" Zain said, picking up what looked like a card.

"This must be why their running" I said, thinking about what would cause them to run off like that.

"Well, let's go" Aqua said.

After reaching the final floor of the building, there was a team rocket member blocking our way. "Hey, you're the kids from Mount Moon!" he accused

"I got this one, you guys go ahead" Zain said, pulling out a poke ball.

We ran past as they started battling and soon we got to a room. In the room stood Giovanni, back to us, though I had no idea why. "Well, look who showed up" he said, I could see his smile reflecting from the window. And I see you've brought a friend" I stayed quiet "well, are you going to introduce her?" he asked, turning around.

"Uh…this is Aqua" I said awkwardly

"It's a pleasure to meet you" Giovanni said. We were both silent "just because I'm not exactly 'good,' doesn't mean I have to be rude"

"It's just…I always expected my meeting you to be less…friendly…" Aqua said.

Giovanni nodded "I can understand that" he said, then he snapped his fingers and two guards came "take her outside, don't be too rough"

The guards picked her up and carried her out before she knew what was going on "what was that about?" I asked

"You want answers, and I'm assuming you don't want anyone else to know that" Giovanni said, a knowing smile on his face. "you don't care about what I do, you care about why"

I nodded "you got that from one visit?" I asked

"I thought about how you approached me. You were cautious, but also curious." He said "tell you what. If you can defeat me, not only will I release my hold on the company, but I will also give you answers"

It was promising, and he was giving me a choice. I could walk away, and someone else would take my place, or I could fight, and I could get the answers I wanted.

He took out a poke ball and threw it "go Nidorino!"

"Nidorino!"

"Go Wartortle!" I called, throwing my own Poke ball.

"Wartortle!"

"Nidorino, Poison needle!" Giovanni called. It hit Wartortle dead on

"Wartortle, slash!" I called. He hit and Nidorino was out. Unfortunately, I also noticed Wartortle wincing.

"Go Kangaskhan!" Giovanni said, throwing another poke ball.

"Kangaskhan!"

"Wartortle, head but!" I called, the Kangaskhan was out.

"Go Rhyhorn!" he said, throwing yet another poke ball.

"Rhyhorn!"

"Bubble beam!" I called. Wartortle obliged, and Rhyhorn was out, but I saw him getting weaker.

"Go Nidoqueen!" Giovanni said, throwing another poke ball.

I took out an antidote, and I sprayed Wartortle with it, curing him.

"Nidoqueen, take down!" Giovanni said

"Counter with tackle!" I called. Both Pokémon hit each other dead on, knocking each other out.

"Well, your certainly strong" Giovanni said, returning his Pokémon

"Thanks" I said awkwardly as I returned Wartortle.

"I'm a man of my word, what would you like to know?" Giovanni asked.

I thought about it, and finally decided "why?"

"Why what?" Giovanni asked

"Why does Team Rocket do what it does?" I asked

He laughed "for profit! That's all there is to it!" he said

"Wait, so all of this is for money?" I asked

"Of course!" he said "that's why I took over Silph Co., big business makes a lot of money."

"And you use Pokémon for your personal gain?" I asked

"I don't expect you to accept what I do, all I expect is for you to understand it" Giovanni said

I nodded "I do understand…but isn't there a better way?" I asked

"Of course, but why go through all that trouble when you can just take what you want?" he replied

"You don't care about your Pokémon at all…do you?" I said

"That's where you're wrong" he said "I care about the Pokémon that are personally mine, I just don't care about other peoples"

"But…why not?" I asked "don't all Pokémon deserve the same thing?"

"Your heart is too pure Alex" he said "in the big world, you need to do whatever it takes, or suffer without things you want" I looked at him, not sure what to say "you have your ideal, and I have mine, there's a reason it's your own"

"But…" I didn't know what else to say

"And now, I have fulfilled my promise. See you later" Giovanni said, then he disappeared again.

Zain ran in "Alex, I heard battling, did you win?" he asked

"Yea…everything is fine…" I said, not entirely focused.

"Come on, let's make sure Aqua and Red are ok" he said "oh, Leaf too" I could tell Zain didn't like Leaf all that much, but I was fine with it.

We ran out to see Aqua looking around in confusion "are you ok Aqua?" Zain asked.

"Yea…I'm fine…" Aqua said, again, not entirely focused. Then she noticed me "Alex!" she immediately hugged me.

I hugged back "good to see they didn't hurt you" I said

Once Leaf and Red came back, both exhausted, we decided to head to bed early. My mind swirled with the information I had gotten from Giovanni. He didn't care about other people or Pokémon, but he cared about his own Pokémon…or did he? For all I knew everything he told me was a lie, it could also be truth. It was WAY too much for me to decipher on my own right now, and I soon drifted to sleep.

**Yay! Another chapter done! I don't quite remember Giovanni's personality, so I might have put a twist on it unintentionally. Either way, I'm keeping it. It's been a bit hard focusing enough to complete a chapter a day, but I'm trying my best! Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 20: mind games

Waking up, I once again found Leaf and Red gone, so I decided to have breakfast. About half way through, the two stumbled in, looking exhausted.

"What the heck have you two been up to?" I asked.

"We challenged the Gym…it didn't go well" Leaf said, leaning on Red for support.

"What do you mean it didn't go well?" Aqua asked "did you guys lose?"

"Well…yes and no" Red said "I challenged her first, and I won pretty easily, but Sabrina…she's not very fond of losing"

"Well, I doubt anyone is" Zain said

"Yea…" Leaf said "only problem is, she decided to get revenge through a game…it didn't end well for us"

"I didn't have to challenge her again, but Leaf ended up too exhausted to command her Pokémon, and Sabrina barely had to work at all"

Me and Aqua looked at each other "and this is why I don't challenge Gyms" Zain said.

"Come on, you can go first so that you're more likely to win" I said to Aqua "see you guys later!"

We went to the Gym, and saw tele-pads everywhere. The guide wasn't there, so we explored on our own, and got to Sabrina pretty quickly. She seemed upset, and didn't really notice us "uh, hi" I said, getting her attention.

She snapped her head towards me angrily, then her expression softened "sorry, lost in thought" she said "I am Sabrina, leader of the Physic gym"

"I'm Alex, and this is Aqua" I said

"Ok" she said, then turned to me "ready to battle?"

"Actually, Aqua will battle you first" I said

"Ah, a gentleman, are we?" she said teasingly. If I didn't know any better, id say she was a teenager from her attitude. She faced Aqua and threw a poke ball "go Kadabra!"

"Kadabra!"

"Go Haunter!" Aqua called, throwing a poke ball of her own

"Haunter"

"Kadabra, use confusion!" Sabrina called.

"Haunter, hypnosis!" Aqua said. The Kadabra was asleep before it could attack "now use dream eater!" the Kadabra was out cold.

"Go Mr. Mime!" Sabrina called, anger showing through

"Mr. Mime!"

"Shadow ball!" Aqua called. The Mr. Mime didn't stand a chance.

Sabrina took a deep breath, then smiled "congratulations Aqua, you beat me" she said.

Aqua blinked in confusion "don't you have other Pokémon?" she asked

Sabrina shook her head "they wouldn't stand a chance against you" she said, smiling

Aqua was still confused "thanks, I guess" she said, returning her Haunter

Sabrina returned her Pokémon "here, the Marsh badge" Sabrina said, giving Aqua the badge "now, I have something I want to show you" she pulled Aqua to the back room.

I waited outside for a bit, and Sabrina came back with Aqua…who looked ready to pass out. I caught her in my arms "she'll be fine…if you can beat me" Sabrina said, shimmering eyes. "If you can't, it'll be a long day ahead of you both" she threw a poke ball "go Kadabra!"

"Kadabra!"

Man, Red and Leaf weren't kidding when they said she doesn't like losing "go Gengar!" I called, throwing a poke ball

"Gengar!"

"Gengar, shadow ball!" I called. The Kadabra was knocked out immediately

"Go Venomoth!" she called, throwing another poke ball

"Venomoth!"

"Shadow ball again!" I called, once again the Venomoth didn't stand a chance.

"Go Mr. Mime!" Sabrina said, throwing another poke ball.

"Mr. Mime!"

"Use shadow ball again!" I called. If it works, why not?

"Mimic!" Sabrina called. The two attacks collided.

"Sneak attack!" I called. The Mr. Mime was out

"That's it" I barely heard Sabrina mutter "go Alakazam!"

"Alakazam!"

"Use confuse ray on him!" Sabrina called. My first thought was how Sabrina knew Wartortle was a boy, my second thought was the fact that she didn't.

"Use shadow ball!" I quickly called out, but just as Gengar attacked, I felt my mind go fuzzy. Suddenly I couldn't recognize anything, and my thoughts wouldn't straighten

"How does it feel Alex?" someone said

"How does what feel?" I asked, as confused as ever.

"Just as I thought" the same voice said "use hypnosis!"

I had no idea what was going on, but I knew she wasn't supposed to be doing this. I was suddenly knocked back by something, which cleared my mind "Gengar, mimic!" I called. Luckily, Gengar knew exactly what I was talking about. Sabrina stumbled backwards, feeling the same confusion I had moments before.

"Finish with Shadow ball!" I called. The Alakazam flew into Sabrina, and she blinked in surprise.

"You just used a move on me!" she accused

"Yea, so did you" I shot back equally "and you may be the gym leader, but if you decide I broke the rules and you didn't, I can get you removed"

I was as angry as she was, and I WOULD find a way to do what I said "ugh! Fine, here!" she said, throwing the badge at me. She also tossed me a disk "nothing unusual happened, ok?"

I nodded, knowing no one would believe me anyways, and dragged the half asleep Aqua out of the gym. Aqua recovered as soon as we got to the Pokémon center "ugh…what happened?" she asked

"Don't worry about it" I said "you're safe now"

"Last thing I remember is a purple light…" Aqua said, still sleepy

"You won the battle and one of Sabrina's Pokémon attacked you on accident" I said, which I don't think was entirely untrue.

"And you saved me?" she asked

"I sure did" I said, again, not entirely untrue.

She hugged me "thank you Alex!"

I smiled, and carried her to her room so she could rest. I saw Zain sitting nearby, and he told me Red and Leaf had gone off somewhere, so I decided to get an early nights rest. I kept thinking about what lay ahead, and my mind wondered to the legendary bird Pokémon. Articuno was soon, and Zapdos wouldn't be far from it…oh well. My thoughts soon faded as I drifted to sleep…

**Yay! Another chapter done! This one was supposed to be a bit different from other gym battles, so I had a whole different attitude. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 21: a rare Pokémon

I woke up to Leaf shaking me "come on Alex, you can't sleep forever!" she said

"I'm up, I'm up!" I said, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"Come on, the others are already having breakfast" Leaf said

I got up and went over to eat breakfast. I greeted the others with a sleepy good morning.

"Ok, I think we should split up this time" Red said

"But…I thought we were having fun together" Aqua complained

"he wants to split up to catch Snorlax" Leaf said "me, Red, and Zain will go to cycling lain, and you and Aqua will go down the other path"

"Ok" I said "see you in Fuschia city!" we then went towards separate parts of the city.

We used our bicycle, and we ended up on route 12. I immediately saw the Snorlax "there it is" I said

"Come on, let's use the Poke flute on it" she said. She took it out of my bag and played it loudly.

"SNORLAX!"

That didn't sound good. "Go Wartortle!" I said, quickly throwing a poke ball.

"Wartortle!"

The Snorlax immediately jumped at us, and Wartortle was knocked back. Then the Snorlax looked at me. There was no anger, nothing to show it was upset. In fact, it seemed to want me to catch it. I threw a poke ball at it. It shook once, and then clicked.

"Whoa, that was super easy!" Aqua said

"Yea, almost too easy" I said. I couldn't shake a feeling that something wasn't right, but I ignored it.

"Gengar!"

I yelped in surprise and fell into the water as my Gengar had managed to send itself out. Aqua helped me back up "what the heck?" I said in confusion

"Looks like Gengar doesn't like being stuck in a poke ball" Aqua said, amusement in her voice

"Oh, fine, you can stay out" I said

"Gengar!" it replied happily. I rolled my eyes and we continued walking.

Pikachu, who had followed us, talked with Gengar. I didn't really follow the conversation, but I didn't need to either. Around noon, we got to a field just outside Fuschia city, and decided to stop for lunch. We let out our Pokémon, and after they ate, they started running around.

"It's very peaceful here, don't you agree?" Aqua asked, lying on the ground.

"Well, if you count the noises of Pokémon peaceful" I said, watching my Pidgeot chase Aqua's Butterfree around.

"Who said I was talking about this moment?" Aqua said "we haven't seen a single car, not one phone, just people and Pokémon with houses."

"Your point?" I asked

"My point is, this reminds me of where we met…except, it's not quite as dark" Aqua said

"Yea, kind of does" I said, thinking back to the cave I found her in.

"Snorlax!"

"Pidgeot!"

The sound of two Pokémon fighting snapped me out of my thoughts "what in the world?" Aqua asked.

Looking over, I saw Snorlax swiping at Pidgeot, who was occasionally pecking at Snorlax "why are they fighting?" I asked

"Snorlax stole Pidgeots berries" Pikachu said "and Pidgeot is trying to make sure he doesn't again"

I sighed "Snorlax, Pidgeot, stop it!" I said.

They went silent, then Pidgeot flew away, leaving Snorlax to go to sleep. "Well, that was easy" Aqua said

"I suppose it was" I replied. I watched as Pidgeot went back to chasing Butterfree. "You don't think Pidgeot will hurt Butterfree, do you?"

"I don't think so, they were caught around the same time" Aqua replied "if it were a Pidgey and a Caterpie, I would be worried"

I saw several Pokémon lounging around, communicating as if they were human. One case was my Wartortle and Aqua's Charmeleon. It almost seemed as if Wartortle was trying to get him to go swimming. I ignored it, knowing Charmeleon wouldn't go in.

Watching them, they seemed like creatures from our world interacting. The difference was, these guys didn't try to kill each other. It seemed that the poke ball not only made the Pokémon bond with the trainer, but it made the Pokémon bond with each other. Sure, there enemies in battle, and your always battling when your wild, but when they aren't focused on survival, maybe they could be friends. That's probably why Pokémon stay with trainers. The trainer cares for them, allowing them to focus more on playing with the other Pokémon around them. Charmeleon and Wartortle had fought a lot before they evolved, but now they seemed to almost be best friends, not to mention both worked really hard.

Then I noticed there were two Eevees…and two Pidgeots. "Aqua, did you catch more Pokémon by any chance?" I asked

She sat up and looked at the Pokémon "how the heck did I get a second Eevee?" she asked

I got up, and brought out a poke ball, and Aqua did the same "hey guys, come over here!" I called. All of them came over except the extra Eevee and Pidgeot. "I'll get the Eevee, you get the Pidgeot, deal?" I asked.

"Deal" she replied. But they didn't attack…they transformed instead.

"Ditto!"

"Ditto!"

"Whoa! Dittos!" I said

"Is that good?" Aqua asked

"Yes, very" I said. We both threw our poke ball, and both Dittos immediately got caught. "That's weird" I said

"What, that we're loved by so many Pokémon?" Aqua asked, smiling

"Exactly…something isn't right" I said

"Come on Alex, who couldn't love you?" she said

I shook my head "your right, it's probably nothing" I said. The thing is, I couldn't shake the feeling.

"Maybe some sleep will help" Aqua said. It was getting dark, so she was probably right.

We went into the city, and headed straight for the Pokémon center. "Welcome to the Pokémon center." Nurse Joy said "are you Alex and Aqua?"

"That's us" I said

"Ok, your rooms are just down the hall." She said

We went to our rooms, and I immediately got into bed. I drifted to sleep pretty quickly.

**Whew, I finally got this chapter done. Sorry I didn't upload it sooner, I've been really busy lately. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 22: unblocked areas

I woke up and once again found Leaf and Red gone, though Zain was still eating. "Morning Alex!" he said, more cheerful than usual.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" I asked

"Well, I've caught one of the rarest Pokémon in Kanto" he said

"Red really let you catch the Snorlax?" Aqua asked, guessing ahead

"Yep! He said I could use it more, and he gave it to me!" Zain said, his eyes bright with excitement.

"Speaking of Red, where did he and Leaf go?" I asked.

"Oh, they went to challenge the gym" Zain replied

"Which means we shouldn't" Aqua said

"There's a place nearby called the Safari zone, why don't you check it out" Zain suggested.

That's just what we did. When we got to the entrance, a guard came up to us "welcome to the Safari Zone" he said "shall I explain the rules?"

We looked at each other "sure" I said

He nodded "in the Safari zone, all your Pokémon stay out here…even ones not in poke balls" he said, looking at Pikachu "your poke balls are then temporarily traded for 30 Safari balls. You may throw rocks and food at Pokémon, and when you feel comfortable, you can throw a Safari ball. Remember, unlike in the wild, Pokémon here are very likely to flee. Also, you are given a certain amount of time before you have to come back"

"Ok, I think we would like to go in" Aqua said

"Ok, 500 dollars each" the guard said

I blinked in surprise "500 dollars each?" I asked

"Yep, that's the fee" he replied

"We don't have that kind of money!" Aqua said

Leaf came through the entrance "you two having trouble?" she asked

"Please tell me you have 1000 dollars" Aqua said

"1000 dollars?" she asked "hmm… I can get you in, but you have to find some gold teeth that are in there"

"Deal" I said

She looked at the guard "isn't 1000 a bit expensive?" she asked

"The fee is 500 each" he said

Leaf looked thoughtful "there's absolutely no way to get you to lower the price?" she asked "not even if I brought Red over?"

The Guard looked at Leaf "you know Red?" he asked

"I don't just know him, I'm his companion" she replied

He looked back at us "and you know these two?" he asked

"Their actually good friends of mine" Leaf replied

"Very well" the guard said "good luck in there" he handed us each 30 Safari balls and took our things

"Thanks" we said, going through.

"Wait, how much time do we have?" Aqua asked

"I think Leaf got us as much as we want" I said. Aqua shrugged and we walked off.

I saw something catch the sunlight "is this the gold teeth?" Aqua asked, picking it up

"Yep, that's it" I said "now let's go back"

I turned to walk off, then tripped over a case. Aqua burst into laughter.

"It wasn't THAT funny" I said, brushing the dirt off as I stood up

"Sorry, kind of a weird day right now" she said

I rolled my eyes and opened the case. Inside were two disks "huh…this might be useful" I said, closing it and putting it away.

"DING DONG!" a loud bell echoed through the area

"I guess that's our cue to leave" Aqua said.

When we left the building, Leaf greeted us "did you get it?" she asked

I gave her the teeth "here you go"

"Great, I'll be right back" she said, then she ran into a nearby house.

"I wonder why knowing Red was so important" Aqua asked

"That's what you find odd about all this?" I asked

"Remember, I haven't been human all that long" Aqua said

Before I could reply, Leaf came back "ok, two things" Leaf said. She pulled out a disk "first off, this is strength. It can be used to push large boulders aside" she gave me the disk.

"Thanks" I said, putting it away

"Second, did you happen to find a disk out there?" she asked

I nodded and gave her one of the disks I found "just this, why?" I asked

"This is Surf, not only is it a powerful move, but it will allow us to get to the power plant" she said

"Then we should go there tomorrow, right?" I asked

"As soon as Red gets done with the gym, we'll go to Rock tunnel, then we'll all surf together" Leaf said "sound like a plan?"

"Well, we haven't battled the gym yet" I said

"You can do that once we get back" Leaf replied

"It'll take forever to get there with Zain" Aqua said "and it'll be rude to leave him"

"That's why we're flying" Leaf said, then she gave me another disk "teach this to your Charizard Aqua"

Aqua looked at the disk "I don't have a Charizard…" she said

Leaf looked at her "come on, let's get your Charmeleon evolved then" she said, Pulling Aqua away.

I thought my Wartortle Surf, then I got it to evolve into a Blastoise. Finally, the girls returned, with Red and Zain close behind. "Ok, Alex and Aqua on your Charizard, me Zain and Leaf on ours" Red said.

Both girls let out their Charizards, and Leaf's took off with them immediately "see you there!" Leaf called, as they took off.

It took some convincing, but I got Aqua onto our Charizard, and we took off. In the dullest words possible, it was thrilling. You never realize how fun it can be until your experiencing it.

I returned Charizard once we had landed, and was greeted by a splash of water. I looked over and saw Leaf and Red already in the water. I followed them with my Blastoise, and we got there pretty quickly. Zain had set up camp, so we ate and went to bed. Several thoughts swirled in my head as I lied down, but the last thought was of how I would catch Zapdos…then I fell asleep.

**Yay! Another chapter done! Nothing much to say again…so yea. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 23: the power plant center

My dreams were filled with dark shapes and voices. The voices had started off as a few quiet whispers, but as what little scenery I could see changed, there would be more voices, and they would get louder. It got to the point where all I saw were silhouettes of people, and the voices were starting to overwhelm me. Suddenly, a loud screech overpowered them, and I woke up.

The screech echoed again, and I immediately went out of the tent to see what it was. I didn't see anything, but I saw a ring glinting in the morning sunlight. I was sure that hadn't been there last night.

"Good morning Alex" Aqua said, sleepily getting out of the tent.

"Morning" I replied back, putting the ring on.

I looked at the ring. The ring itself was a plain, shiny silver. The only marking was a poke ball indentation just below the gem, the rest of the ring was smooth and cool to the touch. The gem was a bright yellow, and it caught the sunlight in a mesmerizing way. I put it on

After breakfast, we looked at the entrance "you guys ready?" Leaf asked. We nodded and headed in.

It was surprisingly empty in there. "Isn't this place usually full of Pokémon?" Aqua asked

"It seems eerily quiet, even with the generator echoing from the distance" Leaf said, looking around

"It's probably nothing" Red said. I stayed silent, looking around for Pokémon.

After a while, we got to a darker, open room. Looking into the room, we saw a large yellow bird standing in the middle. Its feathers had sparks going through them, and its wings were shaped similar to lightning bolts. I knew it was Zapdos.

The Zapdos watched us intently "I can take it" Red said, stepping up and throwing a poke ball "go, Dugtrio!"

"Dugtrio!"

The Zapdos looked at Red.

"ZAPDOS!"

It attacked, but it didn't go after the Dugtrio, it went after Red. Dugtrio barely got Red out of the way, and I pulled him back "I suggest you don't try that again" I said.

The Zapdos stood in the middle of the room, watching us. It seemed more angry than curious now. I looked at my ring, noticing it was the exact color of Zapdos's feathers.

I don't know what made me think it was a good idea, but I stepped forward into the room "Alex, what are you doing?" Leaf asked

I wasn't listening, I slowly reached for a poke ball, using the hand with the ring on it. "Alex, you're going to get hurt!" Aqua called.

I heard, but didn't listen. I brought the Poke ball up slowly, making sure Zapdos saw the ring. I looked right into its eyes, and I could see the sparks in them…I also saw the urge to fight.

"Zapdos!"

The cry was more challenging than angry this time. I threw the poke ball "go Gengar!"

"Gengar!"

The Zapdos immediately attacked, barely missing Gengar

"Gengar, Shadow ball!" I called. The attack hit the bird dead center, and Zapdos was knocked back.

I threw a poke ball, trying to catch it while it was dazed, but it knocked the ball back, and I barely caught it. Ok, so he wasn't going to be caught with a poke ball…maybe the ring would do something. It sounded silly, but maybe it was worth a shot.

I clicked in a smaller poke ball I had found in my bag one day, and I looked at the two Pokémon, who had somehow ended up in a death roll. I found it kind of amusing, especially since Gengar was so much smaller than Zapdos.

"Gengar, sneak attack!" I called. They broke apart as Gengar attacked.

Zapdos retaliated with Drill peck, but Gengar disappeared before it could make contact. Before I could figure out what was going on, Gengar reappeared, knocking Zapdos back.

I decided to try another poke ball. As I picked it up, the ring seemed to sparkle even brighter. I threw it, and the Zapdos disappeared into it. It started shaking.

I could hear the others holding their breath as the ball kept shaking…and shaking…and shaking…

The ball stopped, and after a pause clicked. I picked up the ball, looking at it. I then looked at the ring, and noticed where the poke ball once was, a small etching of Zapdos was there instead. I put the poke ball in my pocket. Something really didn't feel right about how I caught Zapdos, but I couldn't place what it was. I shook my head and walked out the side, lost in thought.

"That was amazing Alex!" Aqua exclaimed, almost knocking me to the ground in excitement.

"That sure was impressive" Red said, not seeming all that enthusiastic

"You're not jealous, are you Red?" Leaf taunted

"Of course not" Red said

"I still think being able to catch a Pokémon that powerful is nearly impossible" Zain said

They all praised me in different ways, but I wasn't listening. Something didn't seem right about all this. For quite a while, the feeling had been getting stronger and stronger. The natural love Pokémon seem to have for me had a bad feeling to it. Sure, some of them loved Aqua too, but Zapdos was exceptional…

"Come on, I say we need to find the best berries possible!" Leaf said.

"Totally! I bet we'll find some great ones nearby!" Aqua said. The girls rushed off, Zain close behind them, which left me alone with Red.

Red sat by the water, seeming upset "Red, if it really means that much to you, I'll give you Zapdos" I said, trying to cheer him up.

"No, you caught it, you keep it" Red said.

"Ok, what's bugging you?" I asked

He shook his head "don't worry about it" he replied.

I shrugged, knowing he wouldn't tell me. After dinner, which consisted of the freshly picked berries the others found, I decided to get an early nights rest. I fell asleep quickly, with very little thought.

**Yay! Another chapter! Again, not much to say…oh well. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 24: fighting poison

After breakfast, we flew back to Fuschia city. "Me, Leaf and Zain will go to the Safari zone while you two get the badge, ok?" Red asked. We nodded, and they headed off.

"I'll go first this time" I said.

"Ok" Aqua said.

We got to the gym and looked inside. The place was empty of pretty much everything except for a person in the middle of the room.

"Wow, this'll be easy" Aqua said. She started walking towards the man…and hit an invisible wall. "Ow"

I tried to hold in my laughter "looks like it's not that easy after all" I said.

Aqua sighed "how are we supposed to get around what we can't see?" she asked.

"Well, we could try feeling along the edge" I suggested. If I remembered correctly, this gym was designed like an invisible maze…frustrated the heck out of me when I tried it.

"Let's go with that." Aqua said.

We felt around, and after a few tries, got to the center.

"I see you made it through" the man said. "I am Koga, leader of the Fuschia city gym, and master of Poison type Pokémon."

Looking at him, I noticed he had what appeared to be a ninja suit on, but I disregarded it "I am Alex, and this is Aqua. We're here to challenge you" I said

"I assume you will battle me first" he said. He threw a poke ball "go Koffing!"

"Koffing!"

I threw a poke ball "Go Blastoise!"

"Blastoise!"

"Blastoise, use water gun!" I called out. Blastoise obliged, knocking Koffing out.

"Go Koffing!" Koga called, throwing another poke ball

"Koffing!"

"Water gun again!" I called. The Koffing was knocked out again.

"Go Muk!" Koga called, throwing another poke ball.

"Muk!"

"Water gun again!" I called. Muk avoided it

"Sludge bomb!" Koga called. Blastoise was knocked back.

"Use Swift!" I called. Muk was out.

Koga hesitated, as if he was thinking about something. "Go Weezing!" he called

"Weezing!"

"Use water gun!" I called. It missed completely.

"Use sludge bomb!" Koga called. It missed Blastoise, but I wasn't paying attention and it hit me. I blinked as I tried to shake the stars from my eyes.

"Blastoise, water gun!" I called. The Weezing was out in a moment.

"Huh…you beat me" Koga said, returning his Pokémon. "Congratulations"

"Thanks" I said, slowly getting up and returning my Pokémon.

He gave me the badge "here, you earned this" he said, "I will be back shortly" he walked off.

"That move didn't hurt you too badly, did it?" Aqua asked

"Relax, I've been through worse" I said.

Koga came back shortly "ready Aqua?" he asked

"I'm ready" she said.

He threw a poke ball "go Koffing!"

"Koffing!"

"Go Charizard!" Aqua called, throwing a poke ball

"Charizard!"

"Koffing, use Toxic!" Koga called.

"Charizard, wing attack!" Aqua quickly called. Charizard moved quicker, completely throwing off Koffings aim, and causing it to hit me instead. Since Toxic isn't a damaging move though, I couldn't tell immediately.

"Koffing, sludge bomb!" Koga called

"Charizard, flame thrower!" Aqua called back. Koffing was out as soon as the move hit.

I faintly heard Koga speak as the Poison started taking effect. "Go Koffing!"

"Koffing!"

I ignored the pain, thinking it was after effects from the sludge bomb. "Charizard, Flame thrower!" Aqua called. The Koffing was out.

"Go Muk!" Koga said, throwing another poke ball.

"Muk!"

"Charizard, use Flame thrower!" Aqua called. At this point I started having trouble breathing, and I stopped paying attention to anything…I soon passed out.

I woke up in the Pokémon center. My vision was blurry, and my head was fogy, but I felt ok otherwise.

"Honestly, it was a mistake!" I heard Aqua saying outside

"He didn't tell you that a move like that can easily hit a trainer?" I heard Leaf reply

"Shouldn't most trainers know that from trainer school?" I heard Zain ask.

"Actually, I only learned when a will o wisp burned Leaf" I heard Red say

"Well, at least he's fine now" Leaf said.

"Come on, let's go see if Koga will give you the badge now" I heard Zain say. I heard three sets of footsteps leave, and then saw the door open.

"Feeling better Alex?" Leaf said, walking in.

"Yea, thanks" I said with a weak smile.

"Toxic is one of the most potent poison moves, it's a really good thing some of Koga's students had walked in just then and saw you" Leaf said "you should have heard how sorry he was, he even told Aqua she could have the move to teach one of her Pokémon"

"Cool, I guess" I replied, not really sure what to say.

"Red told me you noticed he was upset when we had left" Leaf said

"Yea, but he wouldn't tell me why" I said

"Well, he told me, and it's because he feels like you catch Pokémon too easily" Leaf said

"So, he's jealous" I said

"No, he's actually worried. He thinks the Pokémon may somehow be a trap." Leaf said

"Aren't you the one who suggested he was jealous in the first place?" I asked

"I know Red, he doesn't get jealous of others because of how easily they catch Pokémon, I do" Leaf said

"So you're jealous of me?" I asked

"Alex, that's not the point!" Leaf said

"I probably missed the point, my mind isn't exactly clear right now" I said

"The point is, the Pokémon might be a trap set up by someone" Leaf said

"And you're sure it's not jealousy?" I asked.

"Ugh! You're hopeless!" Leaf exclaimed "listen, if either of us were jealous, wed battle you. This is serious!"

"Kind of hard to be serious with me right now" I said

"Fine, maybe I can convince Aqua" she said, she got up to leave. "See you in the morning Alex"

"Goodnight!" I said as she closed the door.

After dinner, my head finally started clearing, so I thought about what Leaf had said. I shrugged it off and fell asleep.

**Yay! Another chapter done! I tried to stay true to Koga's personality this time. Remember: I love input, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 25: A Bird of Ice

After breakfast, we headed towards the water. "If the map is right, then we need to go through Seafoam island to get to Cinnabar island, which is where the next gym is" Leaf said.

"If I remember correctly, Seafoam Island is where Articuno lives" Zain said

"Then we should probably try to catch it" Red replied. We got to the water, and me and Red let our Blastoise out to surf.

We got to the island with the sun about half way up the sky, and I saw a ring glinting in the light. This one was just like the one I found outside of the power plant, except the stone was light blue. I picked it up and put it on without the others noticing, then we went inside.

It was freezing in there!

"Man it's cold!" Leaf exclaimed, hugging herself for warmth.

"Didn't you say Articuno lived in a cold cave?" Red asked

"I didn't think caves could get this cold, especially so close to the entrance" Zain said.

I was too cold to say anything, but Aqua seemed fine "you guys are such babies, I've been in colder" she said

"Says the girl who ran from Pokémon tower at the first sign of danger" Zain retorted

"Wait, what do you men you've been in colder, I don't think it's possible to survive colder than this" Red said.

Now I had to intervene "w-we w-went s-swimming i-in a i-ice l-lake" I said, not being able to stop myself from shaking

"Wow, your taking this worse than any of us" Leaf said, forgetting about Aqua's statement.

I stayed silent "maybe you should stay back" Red suggested

"Or we could use a Charizard for heat" Aqua said. She let her Charizard out, and the area warmed up.

I sighed "thanks Aqua" I said

"Come on, let's go find Articuno" Aqua said, jumping down the ladder.

With the warmth and strength of the Charizard, we got through the cave…and arrived to an empty area.

"This looks like the place" Leaf said

"So where's Articuno?" Red asked

"Maybe someone else got it" Aqua suggested

"No, it would be warmer in here…at least, that's what legend says" Zain said

"Well, where is it then?" I asked

"How should I know?" Red snapped at me

We all looked at him in surprise, then I saw Leafs expression turn to anger "it was a question, you don't have to snap at him!" she said

"It was an obvious question" Red retorted

"He didn't know!" Leaf yelled back. I felt very awkward being the source of their argument

"He's figured out harder problems!" Red yelled

"Really? Finding a legendary is easy?" Leaf retorted

"ARTICUNO!"

We all ducked as the bird barely missed us, then landed in the middle of the clearing. "And that is how you attract an ice Pokémon" Red said, now calm. Me, Zain, and Aqua stared at the two in amazement.

The bird had light blue feathers that glittered in the light, like ice. The feathers seamed hard at the tips, but there weren't any other noticeable features.

"So, who wants to test its anger first?" Leaf asked. Ok, this was really weird.

"I'll go" I said, stepping up to the Pokémon. I picked up a poke ball, making sure to flash my ring. Looking into its eyes, I saw an iciness in it, similar to the sparks in Zapdos.

"Articuno!"

"Go Gengar!" I called, throwing the poke ball

"Gengar!"

I snapped a mini poke ball into the indentation, noticing the gem was the exact color of Articuno's feathers. "Gengar, shadow ball!" I called. Articuno dodged it, but didn't attack. "Shadow ball again!" I called. This one missed entirely.

Articuno didn't stay still though. It shot an ice beam. Gengar tried to move out of the way, but Articuno seemed to know exactly what the next move was, and Gengar was knocked back.

"Gengar, Sneak attack!" I called. Gengar obliged, and Articuno was knocked back…and stayed down.

I threw a poke ball at it. Just like with Zapdos, the others held their breaths as the poke ball shook and shook and shook…and finally clicked. I looked at my ring, and saw that the poke ball was replaced with an Articuno indent.

"That was amazing!" Aqua said, hugging me.

We left, with the others still cheering me on. We emerged on the opposite side of where we came in, and set up camp.

"So, you and Aqua really went swimming in an ice lake?" Red asked

"Yea…not the brightest idea" I replied

"How didn't you freeze? Or get hypothermia?" Leaf asked

"I don't know…" I replied

"I'm more curious about where you found a lake that cold in Kanto" Zain said

I was about to answer, but Leaf jumped in "did you go to Floe island?" she asked

"Huh?" I said confused

"Icefall cave, that's what she meant" Red said

"No, we had been in another region" I said

"You know the Sevii islands count as another region, right?" Zain said

"No, I didn't" I said

"Well, what region was it?" Leaf asked excitedly.

I didn't want to lie, but there was no way around it without a really long story they wouldn't understand. I remembered there was a region with a lake in a snowy region, but I couldn't place the name "I…don't remember…" I said

"Oh…" Leaf said disappointedly "well, is that where you're from?"

I didn't know what to say, but Aqua jumped to my rescue "no, we're from an isolated region" Aqua said

"As in, so isolated you don't know the name?" Red said

"If it even has a name" Aqua said. I could tell she didn't like hiding the truth, but she realized the risk now.

"Maybe they're from the Fiore region" Leaf suggested "that's pretty isolated"

"It would make sense" Red said with a sigh.

Zain had walked off to find food, and soon came back with a bucket full of berries. I went to bed right after Dinner, still trying to warm up from the cold.

**Another chapter done, yay! Sorry for not updating earlier, I was really busy. Anyways, remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 26: an island of fire

After breakfast, we surfed to the next island. There, Red and Leaf went to the gym while Zain went to find food, and me and Aqua dropped our fossils off at the science lab nearby. We'd pick them up after we were finished.

"I heard the gym leader uses fire" Aqua said, as we waited nearby "do you know if that's true?"

"I think so" I said

"Then I don't want to battle" she replied.

I looked at her "Aqua, you can't challenge the elite four unless you get every badge" I said

She looked at the grass "I don't think I want to fight them" Aqua said quietly "if they're as good as people say they are, I don't stand a chance"

"Aqua, how will you feel when we can go in but you can't?" I asked "plus, you can't get to most of the Sevii islands without the Rainbow pass, and I think you need to beat the Elite four to do that"

Before she could reply, Leaf and Red came back, scorch marks on their clothes in several places. "Well…the battle was interesting to say the least" Red said

"You guys look like you ran through a fire!" Aqua exclaimed

"We practically did. Blain accidentally trapped us in a ring of fire and couldn't put it out quick enough" Leaf said "thankfully I got Charizard to protect us, so only our clothes got singed"

"Now I really don't want to battle" Aqua said

"It's not that bad Aqua" Leaf said "at least try"

She sighed and started heading to the gym "fine, but it's on you if I get burned" she called back. I followed close behind her.

I saw one room with a door in the back, and a machine in the corner. We answered the questions and moved through the gym very quickly. When we got to the end, there was a man there. Just like Red and Leaf, his clothes were scorched in several places, and so was the room.

"Sorry about the ash, a move gone wrong almost sent the whole place ablaze" the man said "disregarding that. I am Blain, fiery leader of Cinnabar gym"

"I'm Alex and this is Aqua" I said "she got burned and is a little nervous, so I'll go first"

Blain nodded and threw a poke ball "go Ponyta!"

"Ponyta!"

"Go Blastoise!" I said, throwing a poke ball.

"Blastoise!"

"Blastoise, water gun!" I called quickly. The Blastoise complied, and Ponyta was out.

"Go Growlithe!" Blain said, throwing another poke ball.

"Blastoise, water gun again!" I called. Again, the Growlithe was knocked out quickly.

"Go Rapidash!" Blain said, throwing yet another poke ball.

"Rapidash!"

"Water gun again Blastoise" I said. The Rapidash didn't stand a chance.

"Go Arcanine!" Blain said, throwing his last poke ball.

"Arcanine!"

"Water gun again!" I called. Arcanine was out immediately.

"You're relentless, aren't you?" Blain said, returning his Pokémon. I shrugged, returning my own "I don't have my badges on me right now, so I'll give you it after I battle Aqua, ok?"

I nodded as he walked out "see? Nothing to worry about" I said

"You also have a water type, I don't" Aqua said

"It won't be too bad, don't worry" I said. Just then, Blain came back.

"Ready Aqua?" he asked

"I guess so" she said

He threw a poke ball "go Ponyta!" he called

"Ponyta!"

"Go Geodude!" she called back, throwing a poke ball.

"Geodude!"

I didn't really pay attention to the battle. I started thinking about Moltres, and what might happen with it. "Arcanine, use Flame Charge!" I snapped back to the present as I barely dodged a stray flame.

"Geodude, Rock tomb!" Aqua called. Arcanine was knocked out, though it was obvious it had taken a while.

"congratulations" Blain said, returning his Pokémon "here is the Volcano badge" he gave us each a badge as Aqua returned her Pokémon "oh, and you can have this too" he gave us a disk "it's Flame charge, a really powerful fire move."

"Thanks" we said in unison, then we headed out.

When we left, we were greeted by Bill "hey Bill" I said, surprised to see him here.

"Hey Alex" he said "uh, I need to ask you a favor"

"Sure, what do I have to do?" I asked

"Well, I need some help taking something, do you think you could do it?" he asked

"Sure, where am I going?" I asked

"I'll take you to one island, there I'll give you it" I said

"Wait, one island?" I asked

"Yep, you'll have to come alone, the water is too rough to surf" he said

I hesitated "I don't think I want to leave the others behind" I said

"I thought you might feel that way" he said "I can give your friends Tri-passes, which will allow them to take the Vermillion city ferry there"

"I'll go get them" Aqua said, running off

"Alex, you know you can't stick with them all the time, right?" Bill said

"What do you mean?" I asked

"You can't take them with you into the elite four, you have to go alone one by one" he said

"I know, and we'll cross that bridge when we get there" I said

Before he could reply, Aqua came with the others "ok, we're ready" she said

"Oh, uh…I don't actually have the passes" Bill said awkwardly

"Why did you say you did then?" I asked

"They're at my house, I can get them, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow" he said

"Ok, we'll wait" Leaf said

"I'll be back tomorrow, see you then" Bill said, he then hopped on his Jet Ski and rode off.

We went to the Pokémon center for the night. Let me tell you, it was nice staying in a bed after so many nights of camping. We ate dinner, and then I went to bed. I knew I'd have to catch Moltres, I just didn't know how. Those were my thoughts as I fell asleep.

**Yay! Another chapter done! Don't really have much to say again…so yea. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 27: island hopping

Breakfast was already served when I got up, and we ate quickly, then left.

"Ok, we're going to fly to Vermillion city while you wait for Bill, we should get there before or around the same time you do" Red said, letting out his Charizard

"Ok, see you soon" I said as they flew off.

After a bit, Bill came on his speed boat "good morning Alex" he said "the Tri-passes are at the dock, the person there will know who it's for"

"Great, let's get going then" I said. We got on the boat and sped off.

If you've ever rode in a speed boat then you know exactly how it feels. For those of you who don't, it's really fun…if you like going fast, that is. We got to the island and I hopped out. I could see the others were already there.

"Here's one island" Bill said.

It wasn't all that I thought it would be, but it was still pretty impressive. "So, what did you need help with?" I asked

"We'll get to that, I want you to meet someone first" Bill said, heading towards the Pokémon center.

Unlike the other Pokémon centers, this one had a large machine off to the side. Near the machine, seeming to work on it, there was a man in a lab coat. "Hi Ceil!" Bill said.

The man jumped, nearly knocking down several of his tools "how many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that!" Ceil said

"Sorry, I just wanted to introduce you to someone" Bill said "this is Alex, he's here to help us"

Ceil looked at me, then back at Bill "I don't need his help, I need yours" he said

"You do?" Bill asked "oh, in that case" he turned to me "here, I need this delivered to two islands" he gave me a Meteorite

"Thanks, but how am I supposed to get there?" I asked

"Here, I have an extra" Ceil said, giving me a Tri-pass "your friends are already there, so you just have to take the ferry"

"Thanks, I'll be back soon" I said, running out.

Taking the ferry, I arrived at Two Island, and was almost knocked over "I missed you so much Alex!" she said.

I saw Leaf roll her eyes "she's done this to everyone who's come off a ferry" she said

"I think it's sweet" a girl said

"Who is that?" I asked

"This is Sarah, she knows everything there is to know about these islands" Red replied

"Your friend there nearly startled me into a Pokémon battle" Sarah said "but I figured I'd see if she was overreacting"

"Well, regardless, I have something I need to deliver" I said, showing the Meteorite

"Oh! I know who that belongs to!" Sarah said "follow me!" she ran off towards what looked like a Game corner, though it wasn't nearly as sinister looking as the one in Celadon city. There was a couple of people in there, most of which were working on machines

"Oh, that poor girl!" someone said

"I really hope she's ok" a man in a suit said

"Hope who is ok?" I asked

The man looked at me "my daughter, Lostelle" He said "she disappeared when someone took her to Three Island…I can't focus on getting this place running until I know she's safe"

"We'd be happy to help!" Sarah said, before any of us could reply. I had serious doubts about this girl, but I decided to shrug it off.

"Really?" the man said "some say she wondered into Berry forest…it's a dangerous place, are you sure you want to go?"

"Don't worry about it" Leaf said "we'll go find her right now" she immediately started walking off, leaving us to follow.

"Thank you so much!" the man called behind us as we left.

Leaf glared at Sarah "ok, we barely know you and you just made a commitment we might not be able to keep" she said

"I'm really sorry!" Sarah said "I hate seeing people sad like that!"

"Its fine…how are you at battling?" I asked

She looked at me "you want to find out?" she asked, reaching for a poke ball

"No, I don't want to battle right now" I said

"Ok, good. I don't want to battle either" she said, putting her hand back at her side. This girl was really hard to figure out.

"Anyways, we're going to Three Island, right?" Zain asked

"We sure are" Sarah said. We got on the ferry and got to Three Island port quickly. We saw two bikers who were talking to a woman, but decided not to mess with them.

"Ok, let's go get Lostelle" Leaf said. We moved to the city, and found a group of bikers blocking the way.

"Hey! This is a path, not a meeting ground!" Sarah said, annoyance obvious in her voice.

The bikers turned to her, and one of them spoke up "we can do what we want, and we won't let a little girl like you get in our way" he said

Leaf, Zain, and Red stepped forward "you and Aqua can set up preparations with Nurse Joy, we can handle these guys" Red told me.

I immediately pulled Aqua into the Pokémon center, not bothering to see the others send out their Pokémon "you're just going to let them fight the battle?" Aqua asked

"Look, they can handle themselves, we need to rest" I said. Before she could reply, I went up to Nurse Joy "good evening" I said

Nurse Joy looked up at me "oh, welcome to the Pokémon center…are you Alex by any chance?" she said

"I sure am" I said

"Great! Your rooms are already ready, and I put an extra one for any guest you might have" she said

"Thanks" I said, walking off down the hall.

The others came back victorious, and we had dinner. Shortly after dinner, I went to bed, thinking about what might be so dangerous about Berry Forest.

**Yay! Another chapter done! If anyone is wondering, I will be catching Moltres soon, but not right now. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 28: hypnotizing Hypno

As soon as we were done with breakfast, we headed off to Berry forest, which was supposedly where lostelle was.

"You know, I heard that this forest is known for its large supply of berries" Leaf said

"It sure is!" Sarah replied excitedly "not only that, but the berries grow at a surprising rate, there's at least 5 every day!"

"Wow…and what's the dangerous part?" Red asked

"Relax, you'll be fine" Sarah said "the danger is that Hypno like to hang out in the forest, and many times will hypnotizes children into staying"

Aqua held onto my hand nervously "but…were children" she said

"Yes, but you guys are also trainers" Sarah said "plus, me and Zain are adults"

"Doesn't mean they won't attack" Zain said. Before I could reply, we got to the forest.

"Well, here we are" Sarah said "we should be quiet. If we're lucky, we will be able to hear Lostelles cries for help…or just plain crying" she shrugged and continued walking, leaving us to follow.

After a bit, Sarah stopped "what's up Sarah?" Leaf asked

"Shh!" Sarah whispered "listen!"

We listened, and a faint crying could be heard "is that her?" I whispered

"Let's hope so" Sarah replied, still whispering. We continued towards the crying, hearing it get louder and louder.

Finally, we found the source. In a small, open field, a young girl sat, turned away from us. Everything I knew from creepy movies told me not to go near her…but I felt she wasn't faking.

"Are you Lostelle?" Red asked, keeping a tight hold on Leaf, who was visibly restraining from comforting the little girl.

The girl looked at us, tears in her eyes "w-who are you?" she asked shakily.

"Don't worry, we won't hurt you" I said, letting go of Aqua.

"I-it's not you I-I'm afraid of" she said, her voice filled with fear

"Then who-" I cut myself off as I remembered this event. I remembered exactly what happened…and my suspicion was confirmed shortly

"Him!" the girl cried, pointing to a Hypno that seemed to just appear out of nowhere, she then broke down into tears.

"What the heck?" Aqua said in surprise

"I don't think it's friendly" I replied back. I shortly got my answer.

"Hypno!"

"I'll comfort her, someone fend it off" Sarah said, kneeling by the girl.

I quickly picked up a poke ball and threw it "go Blastoise!"

"Blastoise!"

"Blastoise, false swipe!" I called. Blastoise hit the Hypno, and I could tell it did serious damage…but the Hypno wasn't done.

The Hypno used psychic, sending Blastoise back, but I didn't need to attack again.

I threw an empty poke ball at the Hypno, hoping it was weak enough not to throw it back. The ball caught Hypno, and started shaking. It didn't shake too much before it clicked. It was surprising how quickly I had caught it…then again, maybe it wanted me to catch it.

"Yay Alex!" Aqua cheered. I smiled, then saw the girl still crying.

"Is she still scared?" I asked.

"She won't calm down" Leaf said

I let Hypno out, hoping the girl could conquer her fear. I then walked up to her, the Hypno close behind "he won't hurt you anymore" I said soothingly. I showed the girl the Hypno "see? He's friendly now"

The girl slowly stopped crying, then reached out a hand to pet Hypno. Her fear seemed to fade when Hypno let her pet it "thank you so much" she said, still a little shaky

I smiled "so, are you Lostelle?" I asked

She nodded "yes, did Daddy send you?" she asked

"He did, he's worried sick about you" I replied

"Ok" she said

"Come on, let's get you back home" Sarah said. I returned the Hypno, and we immediately went back to two island with Lostelle, and then went to the soon-to-be Game corner.

When Lostelle saw her dad, she immediately ran up to hug him "I missed you so much daddy!" she said

"Lostelle! I was worried sick about you!" the man replied, hugging her. He stood up and looked at us "thank you so much" he said to us

"It wasn't a problem" Sarah replied. She took the Meteorite from me and showed it to the man "is this yours?"

"Why, yes. Bill was supposed to bring it to me" the man said, taking it

"He sent us instead" Sarah said "well…he actually sent Alex" she gestured to me.

"Well, thank you, Alex" he said "here, a gift for your troubles" he gave me a grey stone with small indents in it.

"Thanks" I said

"The game corner will be open soon, stop on by when you get the chance, ok?" he said

"Ok" I replied. We walked out, and headed back to one island.

There, we immediately went into the Pokémon center, where Bill came straight up to us "well, I'm all done! Did you guys deliver it?" he asked

"Yep, and he was very grateful" I said

"Great! Can you guys stay here tonight? I want to rest before returning" Bill said

"That's fine" Leaf said, going to talk with Nurse Joy.

The rest of us walked out, Bill staying with Ceil. "I guess this is where I say bye" Sarah said

"You don't have to" Zain said, before I could speak

"He's right, I'm sure Leaf wouldn't mind another person traveling with us" Red said

"Are you sure?" Sarah asked

"Positive" I said "plus, we could use someone with information on the islands"

"Yea, but if you're going to the mainland, what use will I be?" she asked

"Well, we could always use an extra companion" Aqua said "plus, I'm sure Leaf would be happy to have another girl…even if she's and adult"

"But, I couldn't contribute, I don't have any skills that are useful" she said

"We'll find something tomorrow" I said, yawning.

We went to our rooms, and I practically fell into my bed. I fell asleep with little thoughts.

**Yay! Another chapter done! Sorry I took so long, I was really busy over the weekend. Also, I may have portrayed Sarah as a kid in my last chapter, but she's actually a young adult, just like Zain. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 29: the last gym

Bill was outside by the time we were done with breakfast. "Good morning" he said sleepily.

"Morning" I replied back.

"If you'd like, you can take the ferry back to the main land now" Bill said

"Actually, we were going to go after Moltres" Sarah said

"Normally, I'd encourage that…but I'm going to have to say no" Bill replied

"Why not?" Leaf asked "just because we're kids, doesn't mean we can't handle Moltres. In fact, Alex has prof otherwise"

"I know" Bill replied "and again, normally I'd encourage you. Unfortunately, there are others who need proof of your strength, and Ceil says their impossible to battle"

"Well, what proof do we need?" Red asked

"Beat the elite four, then you can take on Moltres" he said

I sighed "ok, come on guys" I said.

We went back to the main land, then flew to Vermillion city, whose gym was now open. We saw strange looking tiles with arrows on them scattered. "Well, this is the last gym" I said

"I'll stay out here with Zain, you guys can go on ahead" Sarah said "oh, and just to warn you, the tiles with arrows are spinning tiles, they'll spin you out of control in the direction they face until you hit a wall, or a mat." She immediately walked out.

We walked up to a matt, and I stepped on it. I immediately lost complete control as I was thrown across the slippery floor, spinning like a tornado. I stumbled as I was caught on a matt, and was knocked over as Aqua spun into me. We barely moved out of the way before Leaf and red came as well. This went on for at least an hour as we tried to move around the gym. Finally, we tumbled onto the area in front of the gym leader…to find it was Giovanni.

"Well, I was wondering when you would come" he said with a smile.

"You're the gym leader?" Leaf asked, surprise obvious in her voice.

"I sure am" he replied "now, which one of you wants to try to get the badge first?"

"I will" I said, stepping up.

"Are you sure?" Giovanni asked.

I nodded "I'm ready when you are" I said

"Good luck then" he said, throwing a poke ball "go Rhyhorn!"

"Rhyhorn!"

I threw a poke ball of my own "go Blastoise!"

"Blastoise!"

"Rhyhorn, Rock tomb!" Giovanni called. Blastoise barely dodged it

"Blastoise, Surf!" I called. Rhyhorn was out in a moment

"Go Dugtrio!" Giovanni called throwing another poke ball

"Dugtrio!"

"Dugtrio, dig!" he called. The Dugtrio disappeared underground.

A moment later, he came up and tried to attack, but Blastoise dodged it.

"Blastoise, Surf!" I called. Dugtrio was out.

"Go Nidoking!" Giovanni called, throwing another poke ball

"Nidoking!"

"Nidoking, Poison point!" Giovanni called. Blastoise was knocked back, but retaliated before I said anything. Nidoking was out in a heartbeat.

"Go Nidoqueen!" Giovanni called, throwing his last poke ball

"Nidoqueen!"

"Nidoqueen, poison sting!" he called

"Counter with slash!" I called quickly. The attacks collided, and both Pokémon were out.

"Congratulations" Giovanni said, returning his Pokémon

"Thanks" I said, returning mine.

He gave me a badge and a disk "the Earth badge and Fissure" he said

"Thanks" I said. I headed out, trusting the others to be quick.

After healing my Pokémon, Sarah and Zain came up to me "good job Alex" Zain said

"Thanks" I replied "I feel like it was too easy"

"Probably because it was" Zain replied "anyways, I'm going berry picking, be back soon" he walked off before I could say anything.

"Sorry Alex, Zain is a bit upset" Sarah said

"What happened?" I asked

"Well…he started thinking about how you've defeated every trainer with ease" Sarah said

"Ok, what about it?" I asked

"He thinks it's coming too easily…as if someone wants you to win" Sarah replied

"Well, you guys want me to win, don't you?" I said, not fully grasping what she was saying

She smiled "of course, but we think someone is letting you win your battles" she said

"What do you mean?" I asked

She sighed "I don't know" she said "I'm out of my element here, and I don't know what to think. If I had to guess, I'd say you had a Pokémon who was really powerful"

"Thanks, I think" I said

She looked at Pikachu "you know, how come you never have this guy in a poke ball?" she asked

"Because she doesn't have one" I replied

"Then why does she stay around?" Sarah asked

"Because, despite not being caught with a poke ball, she still wants to be with me" I replied

"And you never thought of making sure no one could take her?" Sarah asked

"I'm positive" I said.

Before she could respond, the others came back. Once they were healed, we went towards victory road. I expected Grey to stop me, but he never showed up…which I thought was a bit strange, but ignored. We didn't have a problem…until we got to the gate.

"Wait" the guard said "this is the first gym badge checkpoint"

"Oh, so you need to see our badge?" Leaf asked

"That's right" the guard said

Leaf, Red, and Aqua showed there badge first, then I showed mine "is this good?" I asked

"Perfect" the guard said "now the adults"

"Uh…we don't have badges" Zain said

"You can't go through without badges" the guard said

"Not even if we leave our Pokémon here?" Sarah asked

"I can't let you pass without the badge" the guard said "it's the rules"

"There's no way they can get past?" Leaf asked

"Not without the Boulder badge" the guard said

"Come on, there has to be some way!" Aqua insisted

The guard looked at her "either go through, or don't" the guard said

"Let's just wait until morning" Red said. We went outside the gate and set up camp.

After dinner, I went to bed. Not many thoughts crossed my mind as I fell asleep.

**Yay! Another chapter! Sorry I haven't been updating as frequently as usual, I've been really busy lately. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 30: the champion

Sarah was already gone by the time I woke up, and we ate breakfast without her. After breakfast, we went back to the guard gate.

"Hello again" the guard said

"Still not going to let the adults pass?" I asked

"Oh, Sarah convinced me, she's already headed towards the next gate" he said

"So…we can go through?" I asked

"Yep" he said. I shrugged and we kept walking.

We had similar conversations with the guard at each checkpoint. I started wondering what Sarah did to convince the guards, but I shrugged it off. After a bit, we found Sarah talking to the last guard.

"…and that's why we need to go with them" Sarah said

"Well, you are pretty convincing…" the guard said "ok, you can go through"

"Thank you!" she said, then she saw us "hi guys!"

"Hi" we said in unison. After showing the badge to the guard, we continued on to Victory road.

Victory road was much easier than I expected, and we got to Indigo Platue without much trouble. Now, it seemed impressive in the game, but in real life it was amazing…it seemed like the perfect place for an elite four challenge.

There was a guard at the door "only one of you can challenge the elite four at a time" he said.

"We know" I replied "I'm going first" I stepped through the door and heard it lock behind me.

The elite four themselves weren't too much trouble, though by the end I had to heal all of my Pokémon. I had one more challenge: the champion.

I walked into the room, and found Grey standing there "so, you're finally here" he said

"Yep, and I'm ready for battle" I said

He smirked "good luck beating the champion" he threw a poke ball "go Alakazam!"

"Alakazam!"

I threw a poke ball of my own "go Blastoise!"

"Blastoise!"

"Alakazam, use psychic!" Grey called. Blastoise was knocked back by the force.

"Blastoise, use surf!" I called. Alakazam was knocked out.

Grey threw another poke ball "go Pidgeot!"

"Pidgeot!"

"Blastoise, use surf again!" I called.

"Pidgeot, counter with fly!" Grey called. Before the attack hit, Pidgeot flew up to the ceiling. A moment later, it barely missed Blastoise.

"Blastoise, slash!" I called. Pidgeot was out.

Grey threw yet another poke ball "go Rhydon!" he called

"Rhydon!"

"Rhydon, use rock tomb!" Grey called. Blastoise barely dodged it

"Blastoise, Surf!" I called. The Rhydon was out.

Grey threw another poke ball "go Gyrados!" he called

"Gyrados!"

"Gyrados, hyper beam!" Grey called. Blastoise dodged again.

"Use slash!" I called. Gyrados was out.

He threw another poke ball "go Arcanine!" he called

"Arcanine!"

"Arcanine, use flame thrower!" he called, it didn't do much to Blastoise.

"Use Bubble beam!" I called. Arcanine did stand a chance.

Grey threw his last poke ball "go Venasour!" he called

"Venasour!"

"Blastoise, water gun!" I said. Honestly, I have no idea what I was thinking.

"Venasour, use vine whip!" he called at the exact same time.

Both Pokémon attacked, but both missed. Blastoise ended up drenching Grey in water, while I was hit by the vine whip. Both of us ended up knocked down.

Grey blinked in surprise "bad idea" he said

I rubbed my cheek "yes, very bad idea" I said. We both got up.

He was quicker to recover than I was "Venasour, use solar beam!" he called. From what I remembered, that wouldn't be good.

"Blastoise, use Hydro pump!" I called, trying to distract the Venasour. Unfortunately, I was too slow.

The attacks collided, causing both Pokémon to be knocked back. "Ok, we really need a new tactic" Grey said

I shrugged "great minds think alike" I said

"Venasuor, Razor Leaf!" he called

"Blastoise bubbles!" I called quickly. Once again, the attacks collided, though it had no effect on the Pokémon this time.

"This is so frustrating!" Grey said

"Trust me, I agree" I replied. When Bulbasour had hit me, it was bad enough. Right now, my cheek felt like it was on fire with pain.

"Venasour, use tackle!" Grey called

"Blastoise, use quick attack!" I called quickly. Unfortunately, they hit head on. The power caused dust to form from almost nowhere.

When the dust finally cleared, both Pokémon were standing, both looking exaughsted. The next attack would do it for both of them, and we both knew that…only thing was, I had the rest of my Pokémon left.

"Blastoise, slash!" I called. Before Grey could react, Venasour was out. I smiled as I realized I had finally won.

"Congratulations" Grey said, returning his Pokémon

"Thanks" I replied

"Come on, let's enter you in the hall of fame" he said. His normally self-centered attitude seemed almost friendly.

He entered me into the hall of fame, then showed me the way outside.

"Congratulations Alex!" Aqua cried, hugging me.

I smiled "thanks" I said

"I'll be back soon!" she said, running in.

Later, she came out victorious, then Leaf went in, also succeeding. Finally, Red went in.

"I hope he does as good as I did" Leaf said

"Relax, he'll be fine" I replied.

The doors opened, and Red stepped out "how was it?" Leaf asked

"I won!" Red said

"Yay!" Leaf exclaimed, hugging Red. Everyone had beaten the elite four with ease, and we were ready for whatever came next.

"Congratulations to all of you" I heard Professor Oak say, as he came up "I came as soon as I heard Alex beat Grey. You guys should rest, I have room at my lab if you want"

"Thanks professor" we said.

We went to Pallet town. Leaf went home, while the rest of us went to the lab. Professor Oak showed us beds we could sleep in until he found a suitable home. After dinner, I went straight to bed, exoughsted from fighting the Elite four and Grey. It felt like this was the end for Kanto, but I knew it wasn't, especially when, as I was falling asleep, I heard the cry of Veurean…

**Yay! Another chapter finished! They may have won, but is it the end? NOPE! The main storyline ends here, but everyone knows Pokémon never ends with the Elite Four. I will go through all of the post-story events, including ones I didn't know existed until recently. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 31: a bird of fire

"Alex! Alex! Wake up!"

I opened my eyes and saw Leaf looking at me excitedly "yay! You're up!" she said.

It had been a week since we had challenged the Elite four, and the others, Aqua and Leaf especially, were really excited to get to the other islands.

"Come on! Bill wants to see us at one island!" she said. She ran out as I got up.

I saw a ring with a red stone in it and put it on, then I joined Leaf.

Together, we flew to Vermillion city, where we met up with Aqua and Red. "Enjoy your rest Alex?" Aqua asked. Aqua had gone off with Red to explore a cave in Cerulean city, so I hadn't seen her all week, but Leaf had been keeping me company.

"Yea, enjoy Cerulean cave?" I asked

"Yea, there are some really strong Pokémon there!" she said "in fact, I even saw…what was her name again?" she turned to Red.

"Oh, you guys know the legend about the mother of Pokémon?" Red asked. We nodded "well, her name is Mew, and we saw her in Cerulean cave"

We were both amazed "well, maybe later we can try to catch her" I said. Red shrugged.

After we had breakfast, we got on the first ferry to One island. After the elite four, Sarah had gone back home to check on something, and Zain had followed her. When we got to One island, we found them surfing from a nearby island, which was said to be perfect for treasure hunting.

"hey guys!" Zain said

Hi!" we said back

"come on, Bill is waiting for us" Sarah said.

We went into the Pokémon center, and Bill greeted us immediately "hey guys" he said

"hi" we replied

"what did you need us for?" I asked

"well…we encountered a problem, and wanted you to fix it" Bill said "only problem is, there's no way to fix it right now"

"what do you mean?" I asked

"we need a ruby" Ceil said "only thing is, it's in Mount Ember, which is guarded by Moltres"

"so you want us to go after Moltres" I said

"the hot springs has a camp you can stay in, catch Moltres or scare it off long enough to get the Ruby and get out" Bill said

"got it" Leaf said, then we walked out.

There wasn't much on Kindle Road, and by noon, we got to Mount Ember. After going through the mountain, we saw Moltres on a pedestal…sleeping.

"I'll catch it" Red said

"stop it!" I hissed, pulling him back "it's rude to wake a Pokémon unless we have to!"

"well fine, I guess this is good enough" Leaf whispered "I'll just put it in my Pokedex for later" she took out her Pokedex.

I told Pikachu to stay back, and we walked up to the summit. Leaf got a bit closer, being careful not to wake Moltres. Unfortunately, the Pokedex can be quite loud.

"Moltres, the Fire-bird Pokémon!" it said loudly.

Leaf shut it off quickly, but it was already too late. The Moltres woke up and looked at us, not saying a word, but an angry fire obvious in its eyes.

"I'll do it" I said, stepping forward.

Moltres didn't move. I slowly took out a poke ball, making sure Moltres saw the ring...it didn't have the same effect.

"MOLTRES!"

I rolled aside as Moltres lunged at me, causing me to drop the poke ball. "I can't get a Pokémon out!" I called.

"I'll try" Red said, taking out a poke ball

"MOLTRES!"

The bird knocked the Poke ball out of Reds hand, barely missing Leaf.

"Zain, you've got a shot?" I asked

"I left my Pokémon at the Pokémon center!" he said

"MOLTRES!"

We were split into groups as Moltres lunged again. I was with Aqua, who was terrified, Red was with Leaf, and Zain was with Sarah.

"Leaf, do you have a shot?" I asked

"my poke balls fell out of my pocket" she said shakily

"Sarah?" I said

She hesitated "my Pokémon are with Zain's" she said, fear in her voice.

Aqua had broken down, and was practically in tears now, but it didn't matter.

"MOLTRES!"

Moltres flew at me again, causing me to move out of the way, pulling Aqua with me. Unfortunately, my ring slipped off, and it cracked, causing the stone to fall out. Before anyone could do anything else, Moltres launched into the air and disappeared.

"it just…left?" Red asked incredulously. Leaf collapsed in his arms a moment later, and Sarah didn't look too well either, not to mention I had Aqua crying next to me.

"maybe it'll return later?" Zain suggested

"I-I don't t-think so" Sarah said shakily "i-it knows w-we can't b-battle it"

"then why did it just take off like that?" I asked

"maybe it went to another region" Leaf mumbled weakly, barely audible.

"well, I guess now is a good a time as any to find the Ruby" Zain said.

Aqua had calmed down enough to talk now "I think we already did" she said, picking up the stone from my ring, which was a Ruby.

"how did that get here?" Leaf asked

"however it got here, let's head back" I said. we went back down Kindle Road, and went to the Pokémon center, where Bill greeted us

"so, did you find it?" he asked

"yep, here you go" I said, giving him the Ruby

"great!" he said, giving it to Ceil "It won't be done for a while, you should get some rest"

"hang on a second" Ceil said.

"is there something else you need?" I asked

"Bill, look at this" he said.

Bill looked at the machine "oh, I know what he wants" he said

"what is it?" I asked

"well tell you in the morning" he said "goodnight"

After eating dinner, I went straight to bed. I was curious as to where Moltres might have gone, but I dismissed it, realizing there might be other problems.

**Yay, another chapter done! I decided not to catch Moltres after all, so there won't be another chapter on it. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	33. Chapter 33

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 32: four out of seven

After breakfast, we went to see Bill, who was still with Ceil.

"Morning guys" Bill said sleepily

"Morning Bill" I replied

"Ok, here is what I want you to do" he said "besides the first three islands, there are four other islands in the Sevii island chain…and I want you to visit them"

"Ok, but why?" I asked

"In order to complete the machine, we need a Sapphire" Ceil said

"How are we supposed to find a Sapphire?" Leaf asked

"Just try your best" Bill replied "I'd start with Four island if I were you."

"Four island?" I asked in confusion

"Oh, that's right!" Bill said "let me see your Tri-passes"

We gave him the Tri-passes, and he gave us a different ticket "what is this?" I asked

"It's a Rainbow pass, it will allow you to travel to the other four Sevii islands" Bill said

"And one of those is four island" Sarah said

Bill nodded "good luck" he said. Before anyone could reply, he went back to work.

We left, and got on the first ferry to Four island. Once we were there, we immediately saw Grey on the beach.

"hey Alex" Grey said

"hi Grey" I replied "want another battle?"

"actually, not this time" Grey said "I'm actually here to look for Pokémon"

"why specifically here?" Leaf asked

"oh, he didn't tell you, did he?" Grey said "there have been reports of Pokémon never seen in Kanto popping up everywhere"

"and you're telling us this why?" Red asked

"well, it wouldn't be very fair if you guys didn't have the same Pokedex as me, would it?" he said "so, I learned how to upgrade them, and I'm willing to upgrade yours"

"what's the price?" I asked

"nothing, the satisfaction of you needing my help is enough" he said. Before we could do anything, he took our pokedexs and upgraded them, then gave them back. "good luck" he then ran off.

"that was weird" Aqua said

"whatever, let's go" Leaf said.

We barely moved before I stopped. "guys listen" I said.

There was a faint buzzing sound, but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. "I don't hear anything" Sarah said

"just ignore it Alex" Aqua said gently. We explored the island, and soon found a Pokémon daycare center. We went in, and were immediately greeted by the lady there

"hello, and welcome to the Pokémon daycare" she said

"so, this is another place where you will raise our Pokémon?" Leaf asked

"I see you've been to the center on the mainland" the lady said

"yea, and it was pretty expensive" Red mumbled

"well, this one is the same price, but there are a few other things you should know" she said

"what things?" I asked

"well, we raise one Pokémon at half the price, two for the same price" she said

"wait, so you will raise two of our Pokémon?" Aqua asked

"sure will" the lady said "but that's not all"

"what else?" Zain asked

"well, my husband can tell you whether the Pokémon get along or not" she said

"and why does that mater?" Leaf asked

"well, if they get along well, then my husband might find an egg" she said

"an egg?" Aqua asked "how?"

"you'll figure it out" the lady said "anyways, you can keep the egg for free, or give it to us if you don't want it"

"sounds tempting" I said, thinking "but, don't you need two different genders for an egg?"

She nodded "or you can use a ditto" she said

"ditto?" Sarah asked

"yep, Dittos can imitate any gender of any Pokémon" the lady said "you can pair a ditto with any Pokémon and get an egg"

"hmm…I might try that" Leaf said

"if you find a Ditto" I said

"well, why don't you try it?" Aqua said

"I don't want to leave a Pokémon here right now" I said

"oh well, we'll be back later" Zain said

"come again!" the lady said as we left.

"ok, where might we find a Sapphire?" Leaf asked

"hmm…maybe in Icefall cave" Sarah suggested

"Icefall cave?" I asked

"it's a cave nearby, said to be super cold due to the ice Pokémon that live there" Leaf said "it's one of the few cold places in Kanto"

"well, let's get going then" I said

"not so fast" Sarah said "Icefall cave is really dangerous"

"well, so was Rock tunnel" I replied

Sarah sighed "you know I don't know much about the main land" she said

"Rock tunnel is pitched black" Leaf said

"oh" Sarah said "well, it's not pitched black, but there's thin ice everywhere"

"and why would that be dangerous?" Red asked

"because, if you step on the wrong spot, you fall through" Sarah said

"I still say Rock tunnel was worse" I said

"and I think we shouldn't go rushing in there" Sarah said "though I know we have to explore it anyways"

"ok, let's check it out first" I said.

We surfed to the entrance, then went into the cave…it was Seafoam island all over again.

"I-I h-hate c-cold" I said, shivering

"I'll just let out my Charizard again" Aqua said

"No!" Sarah said "it'll melt the ice, and we don't want that"

"well, Alex can't continue like that" Leaf said, though I knew she was also cold.

"this is why I wanted us to wait, I can get you warmer clothes" Sarah said

"he'll be fine with a Charizard" Aqua said

"no!" Sarah said

"well, fine. Let's get out before he ends up with hypothermia" Red said. I realized it was getting worse, and I could barely feel my legs now.

They half dragged half helped me out of the cave "thanks" I said shakily

"why are you so sensitive to the cold?" Sarah asked

"long story, right now I want to sleep" I said.

We went to the Pokémon center and arranged for rooms. After dinner, I went straight to bed again, and it wasn't long before I fell asleep.

**Yay! Another chapter done! I'm having a bit of trouble staying focused now, but I'm trying my best! Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. bye for now!**


	34. Chapter 34

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 33: a cave of ice

After breakfast, we went clothes shopping. I never really liked clothes shopping, even if it was for my comfort. I could tell Red felt the same way, and Zain seemed like he didn't really care. On the other hand, the girls loved it…and it was like I was their doll to dress up.

"Oh! I think he'd look good in these!" Leaf would say, pulling out a long-sleeved shirt and blue Jeans.

"I think he'd like these more" Aqua said, pulling out a different set of similar clothing.

"That's not nearly warm enough! These are better!" Sarah said. I swear, all of them looked the same.

"Can you guys just hurry up, someone might get to the Sapphire first!" Red said

"Well, it won't help if Alex freezes" Leaf said, looking through more clothing. In all honesty, I was regretting ever suggesting this.

"Just get him something that fits, we really should get out of here" Zain said

"Oh! These are perfect!" I couldn't tell who said it, but I had a pair of blue jeans with a hoodie thrown at me.

I sighed and tried them on. They were actually really comfortable, but I doubted it would warm me up enough. "Are these really warm enough?" I asked, stepping out of the changing room.

"You'll be fine in that" Sarah said "let's go"

We headed off, and went to the cave. They were right, the jacket and jeans were enough to keep the cold out, even though there was ice everywhere.

"Ok, first things first, let's figure out where to start" Sarah said.

"Maybe we should-" Red was cut off as we heard a crack.

"What was that?" Leaf asked

I saw Aqua had walked across a piece of ice, and it was ready to break. "Don't move Aqua" I said

"Why not?" she asked, stepping on it again.

SNAP!

The ice crumbled, sending Aqua falling "Aqua!"

She landed with a soft thud "are you ok?" I asked looking through the hole. She got up.

"I'm fine, you guys should come down!" she called.

We each jumped down, landing better than she had, and then we continued.

After a bit of walking, we got to a river. In the distance, I could hear a waterfall crashing down "well, where to now?" Aqua asked

"We need to get up that waterfall" Sarah said "there's something over there, I can feel it."

"How though?" Aqua asked

"Maybe there's another way around, come on" Red said. We walked off.

Eventually, we got to a small cavern…a dead end "find anything Red?" Leaf asked. Red was looking at his Item Finder.

"Nothing, there's no hidden items anywhere" he said

"Ugh, I guess there's nothing here" Aqua said

I sighed "well, maybe there will be something on Five island" I suggested

"Bill suggested this island for a reason…" Leaf said

"Wait, what's this?" Zain asked, picking up a case.

"Open it! Can't be any worse than the ice!" Aqua said excitedly

He opened it "oh, there's a couple of disks here" he said, giving me and Zain a disk. I put mine in my bag

"Oh, this is Waterfall!" Sarah said "this is what we needed!"

We taught it to one of each of our Pokémon, then we headed back to the waterfall. We surfed up to it.

"So, we just climb up it?" I asked. Sarah shrugged "Blastoise, use Waterfall!"

Before I knew what was going on, I was launched up the waterfall, with the others behind. We got to land and started walking after that.

After a bit, we started hearing voices.

"How would I know?" a girl said

"Because you know this island better than anyone" another girl said

"What does that prove?" the first girl asked

"It proves you know about this cave, and where to find it" a boy said

We followed the voices as the argued back and forth. There was a girl and two people in uniforms…Team Rocket uniforms.

"Please, just leave me alone!" the girl said

"Tell us where it is!" the man in the team rocket uniform said.

"She doesn't have to tell you anything!" Sarah said, stepping up.

The two Team rocket people turned to face us "you guys again?" the girl asked

"Didn't think you'd still be here" Leaf said

The two grabbed poke balls "you can leave, or lose your Pokémon, your choice" the man said

I looked at Sarah, who was in front, but she was silent "you'll have to beat me first" Red said, stepping next to Sarah

"A tag battle it is" the man said, smiling

Sarah stepped back, and Leaf took her place "yea, good luck" she said.

They started battling, and I stopped paying attention. I went over to the other girl "are you ok?" I asked

She nodded "thank you for saving me" she said

"What did they want?" I asked

She shook her head "I don't know" she said

I sighed "that's fine" I said.

After a bit, the two people were defeated "game over" Leaf said

"You may have defeated us, but you'll never find our base!" the girl said

"Yea, and you'll never figure out its on Six Island!" the man said

"You Idiot!" the girl shouted "you just told them!"

"Oops" the man said "at least I didn't tell them we're poaching Pokémon there"

"You just did!" the girl shouted

"Uh oh" the man said

"Come on, before Giovanni finds out" the girl said. Then they ran off.

"They know Giovanni is defeated, right?" Leaf asked

"I don't think so" I said "and I think we should go to Six island to tell them, and stop this Pokémon poaching"

"yea, but let's do that tomorrow" Red said "right now, this girl should get home"

"speaking of which, what's your name?" I asked her

"Lorelei" she said

"nice to meet you" I said

She smiled in response. We headed back up, and immediately went to the Pokémon center. After dinner, I went to sleep very quickly.

**yay! another chapter done! not much to say this time...oh well. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	35. Chapter 35

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 34: another island

After breakfast, we headed towards Six island. "Why don't we go to Five island first?" Aqua asked

"Because Team Rocket is at Six island, and they usually aren't up to any good" Leaf said

"I'm still confused as to who these people are" Sarah said

"Don't worry about it" Aqua replied.

When we got to the town, we healed our Pokémon and headed out. We immediately got to a cross road.

"Ok, you four can go that way" Sarah said, pointing towards the South path "and I and Zain will go this way" she pointed to the West path

"Sounds like a plan" I said. We headed our separate ways, planning to meet back at town by sundown.

We went through a valley with lots of ruins. Aqua, with her usual playful behavior, went climbing on almost everything.

"Aqua! You're going to hurt yourself up there!" I said

"Relax Alex! I'll be fine!" Aqua said

"You know there are a lot of Pokémon here" Leaf said "you could easily disturb a nest of them."

"Yea, and you remember your usual unexpected encounters, right?" I said

"Relax, I'll be fine" Aqua said

"SENTRET!"

A group of sentrets attacked her before she knew what had happened. We each ended up catching one of them, then we headed back out.

After a while, we got to a closed cave "is this it?" Red asked

"It can't be" Leaf said, looking at her map "Dotted cave is supposed to be here"

"Hang on, there's something on here" Aqua said, rubbing her hand across the surface.

"Hmm…looks like Braille" I said

"What is Braille?" Red asked

"Don't worry about it" I said "point is, we have to figure out what it says"

"Or we could try using our Pokémon" Leaf suggested.

"That's it!" I said "we have to use cut!"

"Oh, well that's easy" Leaf said, sending out a Pokémon "Victorybell, use cut!"

The cave wall collapsed as the move hit "perfect!" Red exclaimed.

"Let's go in" I said as Leaf returned her Pokémon.

When we stepped in, we saw a hole, which we each fell through.

There were four paths leading around us, and in front of us there was a post with more dots on it "ugh! More of these?" Leaf asked

"Probably for the best" I said "there are four paths after all"

"Well, what does it say?" Aqua asked

I rubbed my hand against it "I…don't know" I said

"Well, let's try this one" Leaf said, going to the right.

We followed her, and found another hole "should we test it?" I asked

"Best bet" Red said. We fell down and ended up at the start

"What the heck?" Aqua asked

"I guess that was the wrong direction" I said

"Come on, let's try again" Leaf said, jumping down the hole.

This time, we tried up, and we got to a different post when we jumped down.

This went on a couple more times, and we followed the directions the best we could. Sometimes we would take the wrong turn and end up back at the start, but usually we took the right path. Eventually, we got to a chamber with only one path in it. When we went through it, there was only a ladder, no hole.

"Huh, seems like a dead end" Leaf said.

"Hang on, what's this?" Aqua asked, picking up a blue stone.

"That's the Sapphire!" Red said

"Great, now let's get it back to Bill" I said

"I don't think so" someone said from behind.

We turned and saw a group of scientists behind us "well be taking the Sapphire now" one of them said

"Well, do you think you can wait?" Leaf asked "we kind of need it"

"Do you think I care if you need it?" the scientist said "now hand it over or we'll take it from you"

"Why do you need it?" Red asked "you can find another one"

"Again, I don't care. Every Sapphire is valuable" he replied

"Fine, but you'll have to fight for it" I said, taking out a poke ball

"Oh please" the scientist said. He threw a smoke ball, causing us to not be able to see.

Somehow I ended up on the ground, and when the smoke cleared, I could see the same happened with Leaf and Red. The scientists were gone though…and so was Aqua.

"They took Aqua!" Leaf yelled "I'm going after them!" she took off up the ladder

"Leaf! Wait!" Red yelled, following. I had no other choice but to follow them.

We found Leaf on the ground near the dock, with Sarah and Zain trying to help her up. "Leaf? What happened?" Red asked, running over to help her up.

Once Leaf was on her feet, she looked at me "I'm sorry Alex, they over powered me" Leaf said, almost in tears.

"…they took Aqua?" I asked. Leaf nodded "what do they want from her?"

"I don't know, but she's stuck wherever they took her" Leaf replied.

"Well, we found a man in a Rocket uniform on an island near a cave" Sarah said "the cave was confusing, but the guy said something about the base being on Five island, and some scientists looking for a Sapphire"

"Then that must be where they went!" Red said

"Well, it's as good a place as any to start" Zain said "lets go get the Sapphire, and more importantly, Aqua"

"Hold on" Sarah said "this is their base we're talking about, don't you think they'll have protection?"

"Yea, they probably will" Red said "what's your point?"

"My point is, we shouldn't just barge into there expecting to get her, we should rest before we go" Sarah said

"Ok, let's rest then" Leaf said shakily.

We went back to the Pokémon center to rest. I went straight to bed and fell asleep. It's not like this hadn't happened before, and it was WAY worse then, but it still hurt being away from her. I had a very restless night that night…

**Yay! Another chapter done! Sorry I haven't been updating as frequently as normal, I've been really busy. This week, I might end up uploading two a day most of the time, but I might not, I don't know. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	36. Chapter 36

**Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters**

Chapter 35: another two

I got very little sleep that night, and what little sleep I did get was filled with nightmares about what might happen to Aqua. When I woke up, Leaf brought me breakfast.

"I figured you would still be upset, so…" she said, handing me the plate

"Thanks" I replied with a weak smile.

"Are you scared for Aqua?" she asked

I sighed "yea, she's really close to me, and I'm afraid of what will happen" I replied

"I know how you feel" Leaf said "I don't know what I would do if I lost Red"

I smiled "you can ask Aqua when we get her back" I said

Leaf sighed "I'm really sorry about that" she said

"You tried your best, it's not your fault" I replied

"I know" she said

After I was done eating, we immediately went to Five island. There wasn't much to do here surprisingly, so we were able to find the Warehouse easily.

"Huh, not very well hidden, is it?" Red asked

"I feel like there's more to this…" I said, not quite remembering it

"Well, let's go find Aqua" Leaf said. When we got in, it was one giant maze

"Well, there's you're more than meets the eye" Zain said

"Yea…now let's go through it" I said.

Surprisingly, there was no opposition. We got to the main room untouched, and found Aqua unconscious with the Sapphire still in her hand.

I shook her gently "Aqua, wake up!" I said.

Her blue eyes fluttered open "Alex!" she jumped up and hugged me

I smiled "I'm glad to see you too" I said

"Come on, let's get this Sapphire back to Ceil" Sarah said.

We got on the ferry, and arrived at one island around noon. "Welcome back" Bill said

"We got the Sapphire" Aqua said, giving him the stone

"Great!" Bill said "there's just one more thing"

"One more?" Leaf asked

"This time it's for your benefit" he said "there are two other islands that have been inaccessible, but recently became explore able. We think you would like exploring them, but this needs to be deciphered first." He handed us a paper with symbols on it.

"Hey, those look like unowns!" Sarah said

"Exactly what I thought" Bill said "it seems you'll need these six to get to them"

"Ok, thanks Bill!" I said as we headed out. We immediately went to seven island, and it wasn't long until we found the cave with unowns.

"Ok, we need five different unowns" Sarah said

"I thought there were six" I said

"One of them is repeated, this will be easy" she replied.

It was easy catching them, and we soon figured out what it said. Using that, we got two passes from the person at the ferry, who then immediately took us to Birth Island.

"I have a really bad feeling about this" Leaf said

"I'll go alone, if I run into trouble, I'll come straight back" I said, not really wanting to argue right now

"Just be safe Alex, ok?" Aqua said

"I'll be fine" I replied. I headed down the path while the others waited at the dock.

Soon, I got to an opening and a rock, which moved when I approached it. After chasing the rock for a bit, it finally stood still. I was confused for a second, until I saw Deoxys hovering at the edge of the clearing.

"Uh…hi" I said, not knowing what else to do.

It didn't say a word, just watched me. I could tell it was in its normal form, based on its appearance.

I got out a poke ball, but it quickly knocked it out of my hand "ok, so you don't want to fight" I said to myself.

It nodded its head as if I had spoken to it "ok, what do you want then?" I asked

It hovered over to me. I stood still, not wanting to provoke it. It stopped in front of me, and tapped my earring. First there was a loud noise, making me flinch, but it went away as quickly as it came.

"Hello, Alex" I heard a strange voice say.

"Whoa…what did you do?" I asked, assuming it was Deoxys talking

"I tuned your translator to understand Pokémon" it said.

"Wow…but why?" I asked, mystified.

"You're a special human, Alex…you and Aqua both" it said

"How do you know our names?" I asked

It looked at me "you know I'm not ordinary, Alex, I'm an alien. That gives me…powers, I guess you would call them" it said.

"Ok…but why wouldn't you battle me? Isn't that what you want?" I asked

Its eyes seemed to show amusement "under most circumstances, yes." It said "but you're a special case"

"You keep saying that, what do you mean?" I asked

"You don't belong here" it said "you were separated from where you should be, both you and Aqua were."

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked

"Because, I'm here to help you return" it said.

I looked at it in confusion "I'm done? Just like that?" I asked

"no." it said "you know why Moltres fled?"

"No, I don't" I replied

"It fled to a different region, one you will have to get to" Deoxys replied

"Ok…but how?" I asked

"That's why I'm here" it said "this island is one of two that are found in two regions. Are you curious what the second region is?"

"Yes, I am actually" I said

"Hoenn" it said. I recognized the region, as strange as that sounds.

"But…that shouldn't be possible" I said

"You had never figured it out, doesn't mean it's not possible" Deoxys said "I can take you and any of your companions to the second region easily…when you're ready"

"But, I'm ready now!" I said

"No, you're missing someone" it said "plus, you shouldn't leave your new friends without saying goodbye"

"When will I be ready?" I asked

"Soon, but for now, you need to rest" it said.

It disappeared, and I left quietly. Not much happened on the other islands. There seemed to be places where Pokémon should be, but they were gone. We went to Cerulean cave to challenge whoever was there, but it was empty. I spent a couple more weeks there, and I started to realize something. Maybe Pokémon weren't so different from normal animals. Maybe the only thing separating the two was something simple: a change in evolution…

**Final chapter, yay! In all honesty, I didn't expect this to be the final chapter, but with winter break coming, I became more and more distracted, so I decided I needed to finish. There was definitely a hint at the sequel, but that won't be my next story. The next story will be pikmin based, and will be called 'Pikmin origins'. Remember: Reviews and criticism are important to me! Oh, also remember that I'm willing to try writing for a specific category if you want me to. Thanks for reading!**


End file.
